The famous Mediterranean diet has set its stamp on the cuisine of Alicante. It is characterised by the use of local ingredients guaranteeing a freshness and quality recognised worldwide. The fruit and the huge variety of vegetables are grown in Alicante's market gardens using centuries-old irrigation methods; fish and seafood is captured every day and served within hours of capture while the meat and cured sausages are produced in the nearby mountains. These, then are the essential ingredients of a cuisine where rice is king.

Salads, an excellent, healthy and nourishing entrée are usually served with salted products such as mojama, salted tuna, hueva ,roe, bonito or marrajo, shark, characteristic to the area. We can also try the olives and pickles (such as onions, capers and gherkins in vinegar) drizzled with virgin olive oil produced in some of the province's inland villages. Although now almost lost, caviar Alicantino, made of herring's roe spread with butter, is splendid.

The different types of fish captured off Alicante have a well-deserved fame because of their quality and taste: red mullet, whiting, sardines, anchovies, tuna and palayas, small plaice, are just some examples. neither must we forget the extraordinary seafood such as red prawns and cephalopods such as cuttlefish and squid. When grilled or seasoned in a sauce of oil, parsley and garlic, they delight the palate

Rice however is undoubtedly the king of Alicante's cuisine. It can be cooked in a hundred different ways as recipe books testify. There are restaurants that include almost a hundred specialities in their menus and they try to cook a different dish every single day of the year. While paella is the best known rice dish among tourists, we must point out that rice in Alicante is in a division of its own. Indeed, many restaurants are simply called arrocerías, or rice restaurants.

The most characteristic dishes are arroz a la alicantina whose main ingredients are chicken and rice accompanied by shellfish, arroz a la banda, made with fish stock, arroz a la marinera or seafood rice, caldero, stewed with fish, arroz de mero y gambas, rice with grouper and prawns, arroz de magro, rice with lean meat and vegetables, arroz con pollo, rice with chicken, arroz con conejo, rice with rabbit, and many, many more such as arroz con costra (rice with a baked egg on top) and a type of tasty broth called olleta.

For dessert, the province of Alicante grows such fruits such as dates, medlars and pomegranates as well as the more common fruit like citrius fruits. During the summer, iced drinks made of lemon, coffee and barley as well as horchata a drink made with tiger nut milk or almond milk are the most typical.

But undoubtedly the most famous dessert of Alicante is turrón, or nougat. This is most usually eaten around Christmas but extraordinary at any season. The genuine nougats are the soft one called Jijona and the hard one called Alicante. There is also another called turrón a la piedra which is crammed with crunchy almonds flavoured with grated lemon rind and cinnamon.

Neither must we forget the Alicante Denomination of Origin wines. Wines such as international-prize winning fruity white wines as well as strong, dense, and full-bodied and flavoursome red wines. Deserving special mention is El Fondillón, a fortified wine similar to tawny port and a jewel among wines, already a favourite with Spanish Monarchs in the 16th Century.