In Spain, particularly in Seville, just about every restaurant serves tapas. Tapas means covering, and also small plates. That's what tapas are, small plates of food. And they are heavily advertised, as tourists can go home and brag that they went to Spain and ate tapas.
Two stories exist about the beginning of tapas. I know, because that is what the tour guide told me.
(1) A King walked into a bar and requested a drink of sherry (heavily served in Spain). This bar was open to the elements, and often times, dust and dirt blew in from the street and contaminated the drinks. Of course, the king couldn't be subjected to a drink like this. So the bartender put a piece of ham on top of the drink to protect it-thus the first tapas.
(2) Workers in the old days we're paid in the middle of the day, and their wages we're meager. With their pay, they could only elect to either eat or drink at the bar-of course they chose drinking. When they returned to work after lunch-productivity was way down-so the king ordered each bar to serve small plates of food with the drinks to keep productivity up-another story of the invention of tapas.
I don't buy either. I think tapas we're developed by a newly-minted MBA from a consulting firm in Barcelona or Madrid, such as The Boston Group. Here is why:
(1) Resturants make most of their profits on alcholic beverages.
(2) Tapas by definition means small plates
(3) Tapas, at least the ones I had, were ok-but not great. They consisted of everything from a small spanish omelette, a sandwhich with smoked salmon, and a plate of lima beans. Twice, the bartender put the meals in the microwave to warm them up.
I could picture, a resturant owner puzzling over what to do with leftover food, such as Spanish omelettes from breakfast, Lima beans from the night before, etc. Solution! Divide these old meals into smaller plates, give them an exotic name, such as tapas. Serve them to tourists, preferably in a combo deal with a cerveza or sangria.
