Tapa culture (Spain)

Have you noticed how popular tapas have become?

Quite often when I go to a restaurant no matter if it is Asian, Continental or some other cuisine, I can pick from a wide selection of tapas.

It can be a complete menu with generally three appetizers, three entrees and three desserts or you can choose as many as you wish à la carte.

In Spanish restaurants, they offer small and large tapa platters.

So, what is a tapa?

The word tapa comes from the Spanish word, “el Tapeo” meaning lid or cover. When you order a tapa, you receive a small portion of something.

Tapas are extremely popular in Southern Spain. They are eaten cold or hot on a piece of bread, with toothpicks or served on a plate. Eating tapas is something to do especially in the evenings and on the weekends.

The tradition is to go from one bar to another and to order one or two tapas and then to move to the next bar. Each bar has its own specialties. You may have seen tapas on display on bar counters.

It is a way to socialize and to meet or make friends.

Tapas is not something new in Spain. It is believed to have started in the 13th century when King Alfonso X was ill and could only eat small portions. After that he told the owners of the taverns to only serve wine with some small snack.

But why the word el tapeo?

In the olden days in Spain, to protect the food and wine from flies, one used to cover things with something small like a piece of bread, cards or it could be a piece of ham. As well people standing and eating in the bars used to put their plates on their drinks to make space. Again it was all about covering.

So when the word was coined to describe tapas they used the word el tapeo, tapa.

All regions have different special types depending if it is from Castille, Navarra, Andalucia or Cataluna for instance. In the North, people eat small portions in different bars and later eat at home while in the South like in Marbella, Granada and Sevilla when they are done eating their tapas, they normally don’t eat later.

Here are a few well-known tapas:

• salad of octopus and gambas
• chorizo: spicy pork sausage with paprika. It has many varieties and can be eaten cold in slices or mixed in various recipes.
• gambas al ajillo: in Spain they like to saute shrimp with lots of garlic and chili.
• Jamon Iberico: Spanish ham aged between 2 to 3 years. Best eaten with nothing else. It comes from the black pigs of Southern Spain. It has three types of ham.
• manchego: goat cheese from the region of La Mancha and produced with La Mancha goats. I recommend it after having eaten much chorizo. It is aged for at least 2 months to up to 2 years.
• paella: dish with rice, saffron, vegetables, meat and seafood from the region of Valencia.
• grilled sardines
• Tortilla espanola: a Spanish potato omelette with onions from Madrid

¡Buen provecho!

• chorizo
• el tapeo
• paprika
• Spain
• Tapas