Now you've made me feel really ill...

I've just learned that this frozen muck is available in 180 restaurants with the brand expanding exponentially. People are obviously hoovering it up

(I'm rather partial to Taco Bell also, but, like you, I don't kid myself that I'm eating Mexican food.)

It's kind of like enjoying Cava or Asti Spumante or Lambrusco or any other kind of sparkling wine. Absolutely nothing wrong with any of them, just don't go calling them 'Champagne' - it shows you up and annoys those from the Champagne region.
Amongst my English speaking family the difference is very clear - there's 'paella' (where the 'll' is pronounced as a 'y') and then there are most of the dishes described in this thread which are 'paela' - and for the vile Paellador type frozen stuff we reserve 'pie-ela'.
A nice easy distinction.

For the worst of the pie-ela dishes I nominate dehydrated "Vesta Paella"
http://www.britishfooddirect.com/ind...oducts_id=2498
(perhaps not so unbelievably, this product gets a lot of positive reviews when googled)