The truth about tapas

The lore of the tapa is that a salted piece of meat was often used as a "top" to keep flies from swimming in an open bottle of wine. Bar owners started to notice that if  they handed this salty meat out to patrons, they would likely order another drink. A better summary follows below:

La Tapa so as to be meaningful, has to be eaten between main meals as food that allows the body to survive until lunch or dinnertime.

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.

This main meal, rich in fat, was so heavy to digest that a “siesta” had to be taken for a couple of hours before going back to the fields or to the workshop. Longer working hours in the morning meant an easier workload after the meal.

Wine was the natural accompaniment to this snack, as it induced a mellow mood and increased strength, while in winter it warmed the body as protection against very cold days in the fields and in the workshops of the Middle Ages. In summer, the drink taken in the South was “gazpacho” (cold tomato soup), instead of wine, which increased body heat rather than providing the necessary cold refreshment.

The snack is called “alifara” in northern Spain , Aragón and Navarra; and later, in the Vasque Country, it began to be called “poteo”, because the wine had to be drunk in “potes” (jars).

Once the “botillerias” (bottle-shops) and “tabernas” (taverns) became established throughout Spain , the wise King’s decree remained in place. For that reason, the glass or jar of wine was served covered with a slice of either smoked ham or cheese, for two reasons: first to prevent insects or other impurities falling into the jar and secondly, for the guests to soak up the alcohol they had drunk with something solid, as King Alfonso had advised. This was the origin of the tapa, a solid food that covered the wineglass and a word rooted in Spanish tradition.   And so the tradition of the tapa spread throughout Spain , and continues right up to the present day. Many other countries have adopted the tapa, serving it in many different ways.

A solid tapa is the favorite lunchtime food of North Americans as it helps them to keep going throughout their working day right up to the early evening. Although popular with North Americans, the tapas tradition has not caught on in Europe , where the Old Continent is faithful to the custom of eating three main meals a day - breakfast, mid-day and evening.

Because of the length of time between the early-morning breakfast, and the midday meal, which in fact is really only eaten in the early evening, some Mediterranean countries have adopted the custom of taking a “tentempié” (snack), an appetizer or the “tapita”. This break gives people a chance to socialize and to discuss work-related topics.

The traditional drink with the tapa is wine, either “peleón” (young and cheap) or “reserve” wine (matured in oak-barrels) of each region: young “txakolí” in the Basque Country, Penedés wine or Cava in Cataluña, “ribeiro” in the Northwest, young Valdepeñas or Rioja wine in Castile and in the centre, or fine sherry in the south. In Asturias and in northern parts, where apples grow in abundance, cider replaces wine.

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. Nowadays, the tapa includes many other recipes for appetizers. In the Middle Ages and during periods of economic hardship, those courses were supplemented with bread. However, today, those courses are included in the tapas world. Tapas recipes use a wide variety of animal-derived products, such as meat, fish and eggs and agricultural products such as vegetables.

The many varieties of olives - green, Manzanilla, machacadas (crushed), gordales (big), rellenas (stuffed), aliñadas (flavoured) or deshuesadas (stoneless) - are in themselves the subject of a book. Together with the olives, slices of garlic or smoked-ham sausages, slices of cheese or jamón curado, became famous worldwide. After all, this is the real origin of the cover of the Middle Ages’ jar.

(me again)
The variety of tapas has definitely expanded past the realm of salted meat and depending on everything from the amount of leftovers to the mood of the bar tender, the small "tapas" sized portion that is handed out upon purchase of a drink can be as elaborate as a small portion of rabbit stew to a few slices of bread with cheese and a few olives.

The custom here is for lunch (almuerza) to be the primary meal (such that combined with the heat of Southern Spain, it induces the all popular siesta!) and for dinner to be a little smaller. Several evening we have made dinner out of "hopping" from tapas bar to tapas bar. It appears that there is absolutely no shame in this.

Some of the bars have partial or full menus from which food can be ordered and others simply have tapas. If you stay for several drinks, a good bar will "cycle" you through a nice variety of tapas such that after the fourth or fifth drink, one would have hit for the cycle. OK, I am pretty that in this futbol-centric country they do not apply baseball analogies to tapas bars....

A few nights ago in Almunecar, we were treated at the first three bars to six very nice tapas. This included a marianted beef dish, some really good tuna melts,  something resembled spinach quiche, a really tasty marinated mushroom dish and a few plates of assorted meats. As the night meandered and we ended up at a bar that had a Texas hold'em tournament going on, we were given a plate of potato chips. Overall I would say that bar keeps in Almunecar take pride in the quality of their tapas.

[pictures to follow]