Tapas rules and the 3 most common tapas.
Everytime I say I am from Spain, there are a few usual questions coming out, about food and culture mainly. If we talk about food, which is my favourite topic, paella and tapas are the best candidates for the main role in the conversation. Great! I think I could eat paella everyday single day of my life!
What about tapas? For me and most spaniards, we find it such a surprising topic. Why? For us tapas are just food to eat with our drink in a bar by courtesy of the bartender. Tapas are not a delicacy. In fact, tapas are a very basic portion of food.
It’s important to say is that generally you can’t order tapas in a bar in Spain. Tapas are a complement you don’t pay but you don’t choose either. Normally if you ask for more drinks, tapas will be changing with each new order. Therefore, don’t be afraid if you go to a bar in Spain and the waiter also put a small portion of food on the table, that will be tapas and you don’t have to pay for them!
Let me introduce you in origin of the word tapa. Literal translation to english of the word tapa is cover. According to wikipedia and some family sources, the tapa word has a diverse historical background. There are 2 main aspects: to help people to avoid getting drunk and to avoid any flees or dust getting into your glass of wine. Also, in order to make people to order more drinks. Why tapas make your order more drinks? Tapas are salty, so they make you feel thirsty. But don’t take this salty issue the wrong way, tapas makes you thirsty, true, but spaniards are deeply in love with very salty food.
It’s all about the drink. No drinks, no tapas. Bear in mind that the concept tapa also differs a lot depending on the autonomous community you are. For example: Having tapas in Granada is equal to have dinner with only ordering a beer! Same in some places in Ciudad Real. But not the same in País Vasco (Vasque Country) where they have pintxos and they are much more elaborated – and real delicacies! (and tapas rules don’t apply here, they order them, well they actually pick them). None of these have anything to do with tapas in Madrid or some others places, where tapas are just something you fill your stomach with. Thus, you don’t get drunk easily, but probably you’ll get more thirsty and order some more drinks. But that’s the fun of tapas! Just drink and eat something while you are with your friends at a bar, chatting and laughing. It doesn’t really matter what the tapa is, it’s just about the conversation and friends.
While I was thinking to write this entry, I asked some friends (mostly from Madrid, my home town) to tell me the first thing they would think about when hearing the word tapas. These are the winners:
#1 Patatas fritas. Yes. Crisps, chips, you name them. In the picture you can see a fancy patatas fritas. I didn’t know they will have their peels when I bought them at the shop. In Spain patatas fritas are very salty and with no additional seasoning .They are the most common snack in Spain. You can find a lot of places that they make their patatas fritas themselves. About patatas fritas flavours in Spain… that’s another post!
#2 Aceitunas. Olives. Normally green olives filled with anchovies paste. Don’t say you don’t like them because you hate anchovies :P They really don’t taste much like anchovies ;) I promise. Olives can also be aliñás, with some paprika, etc.
#3 Panchitos. That’s how my grandma (and mom) calls cacahuetes, aka peanuts. They are fried and, of course, with lots of salt ;)
The concept of tapas or the verb tapear doesn’t end here. We also call tapear to have a light dinner with our friends. The thing is that when we say that we have a light tapas dinner we don’t really mean light. We don’t mean we are not getting full stomachs (when, in fact, they are…). We actually mean that we are not ordering a full menu but some dishes to share. We end those dishes (and therefore, drinks, of course) and then we move to another bar. That’s tapeo. But let’s give a wider space to tapeo in another entry.
For today, this is the first chapter of the tapas wednesday editions. Because fro now on, I am going to post tapas or about tapas every wednesday.
What do you think about this entry? Is there anything you’d like to know about tapas? Have you been in Spain and have some of the winners tapas? Did I miss something? Just let me know your thoughts ;)
* By the way, I wish I could put spanish beers in the pictures, but living in The Netherlands makes that a difficult move. That’s why you will see mainly dutch and belgian beers instead ;)
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