the word and the habit
Why a tapa is a lid: the stories behind Madrid's favourite bar habit
Where the word comes from, three stories about how the habit began, and why nobody can settle which one is true.
Save your place at the bar ↗Three origin stories
| Story | What it says |
|---|---|
| The king and the taverns | A king recovered from an illness by drinking wine with small dishes, and then required taverns to serve a snack with wine. |
| The waiter in Cádiz | A waiter covered a glass of wine with a slice of cured ham to keep windblown sand out of it. |
| The innkeepers | Before the nineteenth century, innkeepers showed guests a sample of their dishes on a pot lid. |
A snack with a covering name
Tapas are appetisers or snacks in Spanish cuisine, and they can be combined into a full meal. The word is a plural from the Spanish verb tapar, to cover. A single order is a tapa, and the first meaning of tapa is a cover or a lid. Everything else about the habit is a matter of stories, and the stories do not agree.
The king who wanted wine with food
The first story names Alfonso X of Castile. He is said to have recovered from an illness by drinking wine with small dishes, and afterwards to have required taverns to serve a snack with every glass.
Sand, flies and a slice of ham
The second story is set in Cádiz in the reign of Alfonso XIII. A waiter covered a glass of wine with a slice of cured ham to keep out windblown sand. A similar tale involves sherry and fruit flies in Andalusian taverns. In both, salty ham or chorizo then encouraged drinking, and the snacks became as important as the wine.
The pot lid on the counter
A third story is less royal. Before the nineteenth century, innkeepers who could not count on literate guests showed them a sample of the dishes on a tapa, a pot cover. It is the most practical of the three, and it accounts for the name more directly than the other two do.
Why the question stays open
The truth is that the origin of the appetiser meaning is uncertain, and no single story has won. What matters on the street is the habit: you take a drink at a bar and a small plate arrives, or you order one, and you move on. On the Madrid tapas and wine tour the guide explains the history of tapas culture between the stops, so you can judge the stories with a glass in your hand.
Cold plates and hot plates
Tapas can be cold, such as mixed olives and cheese, or hot, such as chopitos, battered and fried baby squid, and patatas bravas, spicy potatoes. A crawl usually mixes both. The tour is planned around at least twelve tapas across four bars, so expect a mixture of temperatures and textures, with the guide choosing each bar's speciality.