Paella is known as arroz en paella in its homeland of Spain. Original paella recipes consisted of rabbit, chicken, snails, and beans. The paella pans were rubbed in ash and cooked over orange wood. This “party in a pot” is said to be a descendant of Arabian kabsah, a similar dish originating in the Arabian peninsula. Arabs introduced rice into southern Spain in the ninth century, along with spices like saffron.