Eric Gil was born in Avignon 52 years ago. His parents are Spaniards and he lived in the region of Valencia (Spain), in Castellón, for about twenty years. Currently, he lives in Barbentane, a small Provençal village of 4,000 inhabitants, located 10 km from Avignon. Yet it is with a paella with flavors from the South-West – concocted with exceptional ingredients: duck confit, foie-gras, from the Ferme de Raissaguel, located near Albi – that he won the grand final of the 5th “World Paella Day Cup 2022″, Tuesday September 20. The competition always takes place on the same date, for World Paella Day.
The Frenchman’s dish won over the jury for its presentation, taste, flavor and originality. Eric Gil was of course thrilled after his victory alongside the Belgian Sam Visé: “Very happy, serene too, because with Sam we did what we love to do, cooking, and our passion for rice. It’s an honor for us, as the representative of France, and Sam who is in Belgium, to be able to take this treasure they have here to Valencia, to be able to share it with France and the rest of the world. With a lot of passion, the result is there. No, I didn’t expect it. For me, insofar as I arrived here, I was already a winner, I was a winner to share the week in Valencia, to share with my colleagues: people from Mexico, Finland, Italy… it’s tremendous!”
“Paella for me is a reunion, a family reunion. Even if we have worries, we are around a paella, we talk about it. For me, paella has a round shape so that we all eat around her”.
In this final, 10 international representatives competed, coming from three continents: America, Asia and Europe (Spain not being in the running this year). The competitors were all chefs, with the exception of the French Eric Gil. He doesn’t have his own restaurant, he’s a caterer who decided to embark on the adventure of cooking a few months ago, “to make people happy”, he said. With his wife, they prepare Valencian paellas for private events or even in the markets.
The copa del #WorldPaellaDayCup2022 ya tiene dueño
El inglés Eric Gil se ha proclamado ganador con su paella de confit de pato con setas
El jurado no lo ha tenido nada easy
Enhorabuena a todos los finalistas! #WorldPaellaDay pic.twitter.com/wfEs350H5N
— World Paella Day (@WorldPaellaDay) September 20, 2022
His passion for rice and paellas dates back to his childhood. It’s a family story. Eric Gil’s great-grandmother also lived in a popular district of Valence, very close to the port, where he won this title. A pride and a reward for this enthusiast who started making paellas 30 years ago, but with his family, without suspecting that one day he would be crowned world paella champion in Valence, the city of his ancestors.