I always thought of Tapas as what they serve you in a taberna with the drink you order. Sometimes, in Madrid, they will ask you what you prefer (anchoas or boquerones, for example). If you want more, you order media ración or una ración. They'll set out palillos so you can share your ración. In Madrid, you are normally not charged anything for what comes with your drink. In other parts of Spain (Sevilla, for example) you don't get anything with your drink. You must order tapas or raciónes or whatever.

Marigross: are you from Cantabria? I had the greatest chipirones and sepia a la plancha in Santander (on c/Palacios)

thanks laclaire for the clarification, bread covering food... OK then

Yes sssteve, I'm going to Barcelona end of this month.

What are sepia a la plancha and chipirones?

What's in them?

I wonder what the heck kind of place I went to in Granada? When we ordered drinks at the bar, the bartender first gave us drinks that started cooking little appetizer-like things. With the first beer I got a little ham w/ melted cheese on a little roll. The next beer came with a tostada-like thing. The following beer came with a Quesadilla. After that we got prawns/shrimp, more ham, fish (I passed on that) and finally something similar to a White Castle burger. The bartender didn't write anything down. He just kept puring and cooking. When we were ready to go we just paid for the booze. At the time I assumed this was tapas but based on everyone else's experiences I must've been enjoying something else.

laclaire...

the story of tapas' origin in andalucia as first a plate to protect wine from fruit flies ... then the plate being populated with small bits of food is well known. do you have an alternative version because this is the only story i have ever heard. maybe it is legend but it seems well accepted.

ah ha! so i was right after all? ;-)

thanks walkinaround, you made my day.

That was my understanding too---protection from fruitflies, not houseflies.

I'm still trying to picture "bread on top of the food" as some kind of protection from what?

We were at a tapas round when the dishes were placed on the bar and within an hour most were gobbled up.

I believe everything my host parents tell me without questioning, and they told me the bread thing. Now maybe I get to call my host dad and tell him he has to do better research. . . we always make 25 cent bets and I always lose, so maybe I can make a winning one with this new info!

I can believe the fruit fly story. When they invade here, as eggs or larvae in bananas I'm told, I put a little bit of red wine in a brandy snifter. In the morning they have all gathered. Some have perished in the wine and others are standing on the rim. Repeat the process for the renegades.

I did the rounds of tapas bars in San Sebastian in January. My favorite was Txalupa on Fermin Kalbeton Kalea just off San Juan Kalea, more of a square than a street. I went back a second time to make sure.

laclaire- do let us know what you find out ;-)

My hostdad sent me these links:

http://www.calidalia.com/index.php/g.../view/full/494

http://rt001hvb.eresmas.net/esp-mains/origen.htm

http://www.directoalpaladar.com/arch...-las-tapas.php

http://www.arrakis.es/~jols/tapas/index.html

where there are variations on the origins of tapas. And has he says:

"Yo sé casi olo que tú: que están buenísimas."

(I know as much as you do: that they are really good!)

Ned, even though I love Spain with all my heart, I am from Puerto Rico.

Zeus, that was tapas you had in Granada - they just do things a bit differently there!

Many tapas bars there operate just as you've described, with a different (and usually better) tapa being offered with each round of drinks you order.

You can also order raciones or media-raciones (which you pay for) in most of these bars, but the great thing is that the little tapa-sized portions are free.

One place I used to go to there was legendary - you had to order about 8 rounds of drinks to make it to the "top" tapa - a plate of fried squid and shrimp. After that you started back at the beginning with ham on bread.

There used to be another tapas bar in Granada (might still be there) where, each time you ordered a drink, you also ordered your free tapa from a menu of Greek and Mediterranean dishes - e.g. mini pitta bread with hummous, mini portion of stuffed vineleaves, mini meatballs in sauce...

It was very easy to survive in Granada on a student budget (though I do remember having to drink a lot of beer in order to get the tapas that went with it!)