TAPAS

A sample of tapas from Mercado San Miguel

As I have said, tapas are quite the thing here and if you end up at a good tapas bar and aren’t super hungry, the tapas could be a meal in and of itself; all you pay for is the drink!

Ben and I decided we should look up the origin of tapas because when you translate the word to English, it means “lid”. We found a few fun theories.

Number 1: The tradition dates back to medieval times when people started getting annoyed with the flies and other bugs that would fly into their drinks. Tavern owners started to serve wine and beer with a kind of “tapa” like a piece of bread big enough to cover the glass. The practice has stuck ever since!

Number 2: King Alfonso X The Wise, medieval King of Castille, in the XIII century became ill and was not able to drink wine. His physician suggested he take small bites of food with his wine.  When he got better he issued a decree saying that all tavern owners must serve small bits of food with wine or beer.

Number 3: King Felipe the Third’s subjects were showing up to work the lands drunk so he ordered that a small snack of food be served with all alcohol to help keep his subjects show up to work sober.

Number 4: King Alfonso XII was traveling along the coast of Cádiz where it is very windy. He stopped for a drink at a tavern and sand was getting blown into his drink. The tavern owner placed a piece of Spanish cured ham over his drink to keep the sand out. When the King ordered another drink he also asked for a “tapa”.

However they came into being, tapas are a fun part of the culture. Ben and I have enjoyed trying them at the different places we have been to. They are a bit more than a simple piece of bread or cured ham now. The other night we went to a bar that had tapas of a poached egg with bread, fries and gazpacho, a tomato based soup that is traditionally served cold.