Travel tips in Spain: Everything you wanted to know about tapas
Anybody who travel to Spain must try tapas, at least once. It is a must. And also … very tasteful …
Some authors assert that the tapa was born when, due to an illness, the Spanish king Alfonso the 10th, the Wise, had to take small bites of food with some wine between meals.
Once recovered from the disease, the wise king decreed that no wine was to be served in any of the inns in the land of Castile, unless accompanied by something to eat. This was a wise precaution to counteract the adverse effects of alcohol on those people who, through lack of money to buy a nourishing meal, drank alcohol on an empty stomach. Apart from the story of the royal disease we should consider the theory that the tapa first appeared because of the need of farmers and workers of other unions to take a small amount of food during their working time, which allowed them to carry on working until time for the main meal.
Others say that tapas were invented in Andalusia. The word means “cover.” In Andalusian wine-making regions, a saucer is customarily placed to cover a glass of wine in order to keep the little fruit flies from swarming in. A tidbit of food placed on the dish helped attract clients to the wine bar, so the cook–usually the owner’s wife–would out-do herself to make more and better ones.
Tapas are intended as appetizers, as a nibble before the meal, but this way of eating small portions of food where the only restriction is the chef’s imagination, is relaxing and fun. These small portions of foods, both hot and cold, are served in bars, bodegas and tascas to accompany a copa of fino– dry Spanish Sherry–or draught beer. You can enjoy tapas in most bars before the lunch hour (in Spain this is very late–tapas at 1 pm, lunch at 2 pm or after), and again before dinner (8-9 pm, with dinner later yet).
Tapas recipes vary according to the taste and gastronomic traditions of each region. But the tapas most often served are usually those including the many variety of olives, dry nuts, as well as many kinds of cold cuts. Among others, there are fried tapas and tapas prepared with sauces. Sometime in the past, the fried tapas had more success and are more in demand than the ones prepared with sauces, apart from some small exceptions. “Boquerones”(whitebait), calamaries, sausages, fritters, croquets, potato and “torreznos”, belong to the world of fried tapas. Casserole stews as well as the Madrilenian “callos”, the Almagro’s aubergines or flavored string beans belong to the tapas prepared with sauces. Finally, animal and agricultural-based recipes such as potato tortilla, cod fritters, croquets and escabeches, remain obligatory at this time of the day so that, if accompanied by a salad, they could perfectly replace a complete lunch.
If you want to find good tapas bars in the city that you are planning to visit, you can check out: LaNetro or QDQ
