The coastal character of the area makes the principal dishes of its gastronomy be based upon fish and products from the sea. The combination of traditional and universal dishes makes the south Costa Blanca cuisine an immensely rich one. Among the wealth of rice dishes the most typical is the "Caldero" (rice prepared with different varieties of fish stock). Other dishes with a marine flavour are rice with anchovies and a variety of stews made with cod, sea-bream, mackerel, ray and other fish, all exquisitely prepared in the numerous restaurants. Big or small, urban, rural or set in picturesque tourist locations, the restaurants of the region have a well deserved reputation for good food, based on a large variety of dishes, made carefully and from fresh produce of excellent quality.

Often hidden behind the plethora of rice dishes and paellas that dominate the culinary scene, there are many other traditional dishes which are just as delicious, even if they are not as well known as their big sisters. Both urban and rural recipes, they have been perfected by time and by local wisdom, some of them dating back to remote periods of history.

For dessert in the Land of Valencia there are artisan cheeses – cassoleta, de servilleta, Tronchón, Burriana, Puzol, Cervera – of very savoury characteristics, and a wide array of unique sweetmeats which are usually made during religious feasts in the Christian calendar. Sweet floury breads halfway between normal bread and confectionery are zealously made at the end of winter, and Easter brings a wide variety of typical monas de Pascua, or Easter loaves. In addition to sweet pastries and confectionery called pastes and pastissos, coques and coquetes at any time of year, we can add an emblematic dessert dish going by the name of arnadí, made using sweet potato or pumpkin; custard; Fallas buns; pastis de gloria made for the Saturday before Easter; leche merengada (ice cream made from milk, egg whites and flavourings); tiger nut milk called horchata; cheese custards; anisette rolls; pumpkin turnovers, crisp almond cookies called carquiñolis de avellana; orelletes (pan fried sweets) and a very long list of other delicacies.