A Taste of Seville

Seville is worth a visit for its cuisine alone. Not for its fine dining restaurants, perhaps, but because it is the home of tapas. Tapas was invented in Andalucía, the Spanish region of which Seville is the capital. The word tapa is derived from the old Spanish custom of covering (tapando) a wine glass with a small, complimentary plate of bread or ham before serving it at the bar to a thirsty, hungry customer. Today it has come to mean snack or light bite, although you can also order tapas dishes as a ración – a larger plate of food.
Visiting Seville for the first time, as I did in the scorching heat of August, you are struck by just how much time the locals – Sevillanos – spend in and around the city's 4,000 or so tapas bars, eating local delicacies and chatting with friends and strangers over a glass of the region's fortified wine, jerez – sherry to us Brits. There is little point trying to decide which are the best of the bodegas (which literally translated means ‘stores') and tabernas (taverns) where tapas are served. None will win a Michelin star – this is nearer to street food than nouvelle cuisine and, in any case, there is simply so much choice that comparisons are rendered meaningless. One taberna might do a hearty dish of chorizos al vino (spicy sausages in red wine) or garlicky snails, while another might have a fresher catch of chipirones (baby squid) that day. It really is a question of taste.
In the older, traditionally authentic tapas bars, the changing menus are chalked up daily on a blackboard, while in the touristy streets the menus become more formulaic and are printed in translation for the aid of the city's many visitors. Don't be put off the tourist-friendly restaurants, however, as the locals all happily roam from one tapas bar to another regardless. In fact they have a verb for it: to tapear. In many of the bodegas and tabernas, legs of jamon Iberico (ham) hang on the walls, ready to be cut into wafer thin slices and served with a sherry or a cold beer at lunch time. When it comes to sherry a chilled glass of the pale and dry Fino, or a slightly darker and not quite so dry Manzanilla, are the most popular – so forget about the Bristol Cream! The local red wines, which are usually served chilled in summer, are also worth a try.
Feast Eor the Eyes

Kristel van Winkel

 

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