In April, at El Poble Nou de Benitatxell, a thousand broad beans. The Mitjafava Fest is such an outstanding milestone of the festival calendar in town that, if necessary, even the sayings are adapted. And it is that the ‘faves pobleres’ have their own name and an endless number of culinary possibilities that every year the local restaurants and bars demonstrate in the big week that the municipality dedicates to this legume.
With it they cook the traditional arròs amb fava in the Gastronomic Days of the Broad Bean, which are held from Thursday to Saturday of this week; but they also bring out creativity and ingenuity and prepare delicious and original tapas, named tapifaves, which can be tasted this Sunday, April 19th at the Tapifava Festival. All the recipes have the broad bean as the main ingredient, and all are collected in a recipe book in which the restaurateurs share their recipes with the whole town in an act of love for the product.
«It is incredible that such sophisticated and original dishes can be made from such a humble legume. I am convinced that neighbours and visitors will enjoy the day and the gastronomic creations in the form of tapas that fuse traditional cuisine with the most innovative,» said the Councillor of Festivities, Mayte Roldán.
On Sunday you can taste tapas as suggestive and original as those of the Restaurante La Cumbre, with its brioche bread, cheek with beans, onion and its caramelised pod with truffle mayonnaise, and cheese bread stuffed with broad beans and prawns.
Tradition will be a sure value with the octopus with broad beans and the broad bean pies from La Cuina de Xaro; the meatballs with ‘faves sacsades’ (shaken beans) and the Russian salad with broad beans from La Trillaora; or the traditional stew of dried beans and the broad bean coca from La Coqueria.
In other cases, this legume travels to geographies as far away as Asia and Mexico to offer international offers such as the Xiao-long-bao with pork and broad bean filling and gyozas with chicken and broad bean filling from Beniasia restaurant or the broad bean burrito from the Centro Social Cafeteria, which will also prepare broad beans and garlic chicken. There are also vegan and healthy options such as chef Neil Browning’s broad bean and curry burger.
The tapifaves can be tasted at a price of 2.50 euros per tapa on Sunday, April 19th in the parking lot on Valencia Avenue. On that day, Benitatxell will become a culinary showcase with good music and an unbeatable atmosphere.
The day will start at 10am with brunch and bar service by Peña Taurina El Portalet. The tapifaves will begin to be served from 11am, with the musical accompaniment of Canta Canalla, and from 1pm onwards Músics de carrer will perform. As icing on the cake, at 1:30pm the prizes will be awarded to the winners of the homemade wine and mistela contests, the fava més llarga (the longest broad bean) and the fava de més gallons c(the broad bean with more seeds) contests organised by BioMoscatell association and the Fava Exterminadora game.
More proposals during the weekend
On Friday 17th and Saturday 18th there will also be numerous gastronomic and festive suggestions. The weekend will start with the showcooking of the content creator Maria Albero (@saboreanda) and the chef Carlos G. Moreno (Dexcaro, in Dénia) and the concert of the saxophonist Alfredo Ripoll.
On Saturday morning, at 11am, there will be a guided tour of the experimental broad bean terrace and tasting of BioMoscatell products. And at midday, as a culmination of the morning, the Grup de Danses Morro Falquí and Colla La Llebetjà of El Poble Nou de Benitatxell will offer a popular dance at La Pau and Mayor streets.
The afternoon will begin at 5:30 pm with a children’s playroom service, medieval attractions, the game of the Exterminating Fava and the performance of Muixeranga of La Marina Alta at 6:30 pm. Finally, in the afternoon you will be able to enjoy music and tapas at the car park on Valencia Avenue with performances by Spicy Cherries, Tres fan ball, La Xe-ranga, Bèrnia, Esther and Fiona Onix DJ Set.