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Tonight is Tapas Night, a very popular evening at Natalie’s restaurant. Join us for great Spanish bar food (TAPAS), Spanish wines and Spanish music. Enjoy the causal European atmosphere and imagine yourself being in vibrant Barcelona (Spain).
All our Tapas is made from the freshest ingredients, using traditional recipes and prepared by our Top Chef Lawrence Klang. Pick a menu and a pencil, check the dishes you would like to have, order a bottle of wine and have fun with your friends. We do recommend making reservations for this very popular evening. The TAPAS menu may be combined with our regular menu!
(Camden) ARE YOU HAVING TAPAS TONIGHT? - Dining - WaldoSoup

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Popular throughout Spain in bars and restaurants, tapas are appetizers that usually accompany sherry or other aperitifs and cocktails. They can also form an entire meal and range from simple items such as olives or cubes of ham and cheese to more elaborate preparations like room temperature omelets, garlic shrimp and little meatballs. Ideal for a celebratory meal, tapas have become trendy in many American cities, although it’s not necessary to dine out when craving these bite-sized eats. Just gather some friends, whip up a pitcher of sangria, and serve some of Spain’s tastiest treats. Use tea saucers as plates, and encourage your guests to use toothpicks or their fingers when eating (as is the tradition in Spain) – no silverware necessary.

Tapas Recipes, Small Plates and Spanish Cooking Ideas: Parties: Party Ideas: Food Network

The word ‘tapas’ is synonymous with Spanish cuisine and every visitor to Spain wants to ‘go for tapas’ even though most of them don’t know what exactly tapas is nor where to get it. On this page you’ll find a definition of tapas, where to get good free (yes, free) tapas and how to get the best of it.
What is Tapas? (And What it is Not)
Tapas is a plural term, so you should really be asking ‘What are Tapas’. A ‘tapa’ is not a type of food, but a way of eating it. There are a number of explanations for the origins of tapas - some plausible, some less so. Click on the above link for details of the most famous ones.
Tapas in Spain - What is Tapas in Spain - How to Get Good Tapas in Spain

Many people who have read foodie magazines or checked out a travel show may have heard of tapas, but didn’t follow up on finding out exactly what they are. Of Spanish origin, tapas are “little dishes,” that is, snack-size foods meant to be eaten between meals. Tapas are still extremely popular in Spain and there are tapas bars in the U.S., as well. The history of tapas is an old one. It probably dates from the Middle Ages, when field workers would take a small meal with them into the fields, meant to be eaten as they worked, or on a short break. Olives, bread and cheese, perhaps with a small slice of ham or other meat, often comprised this small meal. As customs do, eating tapas evolved, becoming a social ritual in small restaurants all around Spain. Some say that the name tapas came from a slice of ham covering a glass of sherry - perhaps to keep out flies. Another advantage of serving cured meats is that they created a greater thirst, making the customers purchase yet more wine. Nowadays, tapas may be eaten as a snack or as a full meal. They may be thought of as a sort of Spanish version of dim sum. Diners can order dishes individually, or as a group of related dishes. Olives are still popular ingredients for tapas, as are cheese, ham and other foods that lend themselves well to small snacks. Some popular tapas dishes include herbed goat cheese with ham and/or shrimp, chickpeas and spinach, mushrooms and cheese, small servings of Spanish omelet, tuna and olive crostini, and a host of other savory tidbits. Recipes for tapas are available online or in cookbooks. A cook wanting to serve a tapas buffet should provide several kinds of cheese, two or three meats and finger-sized vegetables such as mushrooms, olives,

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What is tapas?
Tapas is simply a small snack or appetizer taken with a drink or two at lunchtime or in the early evening before the main meal. The Spanish generally won’t drink without eating something and originally these small snacks were given free to anyone who bought a drink. Now almost all bars will charge you for anything other than maybe a bowl of olives. The Origins The origins of tapas are the subject of many an argument in the local bar. (It seems to depend on which area of Spain you are from!) It is said that the first Tapas was simply a hunk of bread which was placed over the glass to keep the flies out. Hence the word ‘tapas’ was born.

What Is Tapas

It’s nighttime in Madrid, and you may hope to hear great flamenco music or to find a hidden restaurant gem. But you’ll probably also join in the nightly stroll: tapas-hopping, or wandering from one tasca, or bar, to the next, enjoying a glass of beer or wine and an order or two of tapas. Tapas, or “little plates,” are Spain’s national culinary passion–and maybe the Spanish version of fast foods. Glorified snacks, these little plates incorporate the best from the Spanish kitchen. Common offerings include oil-marinated olives, wedges of crusty bread brushed with crushed tomatoes, slices of potatoes cooked with eggs and olive oil, garbanzo beans tossed with green peppers or eggplants grilled and drizzled with olive oil. The choices and possibilities seem endless, and as a result, in Spain, this rustic, lusty and flavorful fare is just as welcome in country pubs as it is in big-city bars.
Seduced by tapas: Americans find Spanish sensation irresistible | Vegetarian Times | Find Articles at BNET.com

Definition of Tapas:

(n. pl. ta•pas (-päs, -päz) Any of various small, savory Spanish dishes, often served as a snack or with other tapas as a meal. Tapas is a plural term, so you should really be asking ‘What are Tapas’. A ‘tapa’ is not a type of food, but a way of eating it. Tapas can be anything – traditionally Spanish or traditionally Sheffield–ish — as long as it is small!  The exact origin of tapas is disputed & there are numerous theories:* Field workers would take a small meal of olives, bread, ham & cheese with them into the fields;
* Unscrupulous tavern owners used slices of strong smelling cheese to disguise the bad wine they were serving;
* A Spanish king took small bites of food with wine when ill. Once recovered he decreed wine should always be served with food.
* Tapas (from tapa “lid” or “cover”) was a slice of ham covering a glass of sherry – perhaps to keep out flies. Cured meats made customers thirsty and purchase yet more wine

SpinRocs :: What Is Tapas?

Welcome to the world of Proper Spanish Tapas
Tapas recipes
We invite you to come with us on a journey of tapas discovery, limited only by how long you can sit here reading before your mouth starts salivating and you simply have to get up and try a tapas recipe!Here you will discover everything you ever wanted to know about the ‘small plate with the big flavour’ . . . the tapas. Plus lots of other Spanish facts and fancies that you may not have realised you wanted to know! Tapas . . . ‘The small plate with the BIG flavour’ Our aim is simple: we hope that if you are interested in cooking, preparing or serving the enormously varied tapas recipes of Spain, then you will come back to visit us time and time again. There is so much of interest to learn about the fascinating origins and history of tapas. I am still learning something new every time I go out to a local bar, or when I chat to the proprietor at the Jamon y Queso (ham and cheese) shop. Oh, did I not mention that we are lucky enough to live in Andalucia, southern Spain? Such is the diversity of tapas that in bars all over Spain and the world you can order virtually anything that takes your fancy. From an exotically-flavoured, spicy Andaluciadish to a simple bowl of olives. The choice is entirely yours.

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Tapas recipes and everything you ever wanted to know about Spanish tapas

“I’m backing my shares on Mediterranean cuisine… not so much Italian, because I think it’s slightly overdone here, but tapas will continue to grow.” He explains to me the rather silly origins of the trend, where you essentially snack until you’re full. “Tapa means ‘top’ in Spanish, and it started out as a cover on a drink to keep the flies out,” he explains. “Someone figured out that if you put a piece of food on that cover, you could charge people for it. The portions are small but the variety is endless.” In fact, he believes so strongly that the trend will boom that he’s flying six Thai chefs over to Barcelona for a food fair to expose them to the cuisine. If anyone’s going to be ready to ride the wave, it’ll be Coombes.
Greg Jorgensen » Food, Glorious Food!

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Spanish sausages, especially the chorizo are rapidly gaining an enviable reputation as being some of the finest produced in the world. Cured sausages or “embutidos” can be found hanging by the dozen in all butchers in southern Spain and many other regions with most butchers curing their own sausages and hams.
Top Spanish Tapas…: Spanish Sausages