was responsible for tapas but that was definitely menu del dia, not tapas.  The fact is – tapas exists in many countries and has been around since time immemorial.  It has different names but the concept is the same.  It is not a meal or first course to a meal.  It is a standalone snack to be eaten with a drink.

The Greeks serve meze.  In fact most of the middle east does.   The name itself originally came from the Persian for “relish or taste”.  It was never intended to be a small course of a meal.  It was designed to stand alone and enhance the flavour of the drink it is eaten with.  Whether that be ouzo, raki or wine they are all accompanied by vine leaf parcels of rice with a piquant tomato sauce, slightly salty taramousalata or garlicky tatziki.   A Greek waiter once informed me that the most popular meze amongst the local Greeks was tatziki and chips – well who wouldn’t if they could?

In Italia they call it antipasto “before the pasta”.   Again it is not meant to replace a starter but is rather a taster to get the taste buds dancing in readiness for the main acts to follow.  Scappi Bartolomeo the famous Renaissance chef who worked at the Vatican mentions it.  Likely he would have served some of the antipasto we see today such as roasted peppers, cured ham and  caponata (eggplant relish)  which all go well with grappa, Campari and wine.

India gets in on the “tapas” act with its famous street food or chaat.  Normally bought from stalls, this food consists of easy to eat bites which you can pick up and eat without the aid of cutlery.  Some of the best on offer are  samosas, pakoras and pooris.  Often served with a dollop of mint raita or tamarind chutney to cool the sometimes fiery content of meat, fish or vegetables.  Alcohol is not popular in India so you are normally offered a cup of tea or coffee with your chaat.

Izakaya,  the Japanese gathering places where your over worked Japanese banker goes for  a couple of sakes and a bite to eat on his way home to unwind before facing the wife and kids are not restaurants.  They are bars which serve small snacks, just like our tapas bars. The name itself is a combination of “i” for to sit and “sakaya” for sake shop.  They serve a selection of tofu with toppings, boiled and salted soyabean pods, chicken or meat skewers and of course raw fish slices plus some miso soup and  picked vegetables. The saki can be served warm from porcelain cups or chilled in summer from small square wooden boxes but remember your etiquette, never fill your own cup.

In Mexico Antojitos or “little whims” are served with Margaritas, beer and the nation´s best known tipple Tequila.  They offer mini versions of their most famous dishes such as burritos  and enchiladas, with chilli con queso and guacamole and sometimes black bean or tortilla soup.  In Mexican Antojitos you can see the blend of Spain with South America.  When  the Spanish set sail for new horizons and found South America they brought rice, garlic, onions and meat  with them and the locals already had an abundance of corn, chillies, tomatoes and fish.  Put the two together and you have some very tasty snack food indeed.

The Chinese offer dim sum or “heart´s delight” which originated in the teahouses.  Generally offered from carts wheeled around by the waiters with the steaming hot dim sum straight from the kitchen in little bamboo baskets, you point to what takes your fancy i.e. your heart´s delight.  We are all acquainted with the little pork and prawn dim sum offered in modern Chinese Restaurants and they are very typical of what has been served for centuries.  However, outside of China it is not often you see them accompanied by Chinese tea or wonton soup which would be the norm.

I rest my case – tapas exists the world over but you can´t beat settling in to the corner of an Andalucian  tapas bar with a fino or a glass of wine and a few of those little white plates.  I like the traditional tapas personally, tortilla filled with fluffy potato, prawns in garlic sauce, meatballs in tomato gravy and of course our finest jamon on a little plate with a bit of mature Manchego cheese and some local almonds.  So  probably  Spain cannot lay claim to having invented the concept  but we do it as well if not better than anyone else and for my money you cannot beat the tapas in Andalucia.  Well to be exact – The Costa de la Luz but then I would say that – I live here.

I sent my posh tuna back once in the Restaurant at the Ritz in Madrid.  I can stomach almost anything but raw fish is not on my list of likes.  If Chef had even managed to show it the grill I would have been happy but this baby just leapt out the sea and straight on to my plate.  When the waiter returned with the manager
to assure me that they were killing it in the kitchen and it would be back out having had a quick tanning session in their very expensive grill I felt obliged to apologise for being a plebe unable to chow my way through a bit of raw dead fish.  Much to my surprise the manager assured me that as we lived in the Costa de la Luz we would know better than their Chef how to cook tuna.  I was not sure if this was a great compliment to us or a bit of a giveaway that they had the boy from the burger bar on the corner across the park doing a stand in shift for them as things were a bit quiet that night and head chef had the night off.  Things were a bit slack in all fairness as our fellow diners were an elderly gentleman with a leather mini skirted girl of around 18 – yes I think she was  a lady of the night and he said they had no time for dessert as they were in a rush -not sure if the clock was ticking on her meter or his Viagra meter but they left in a hurry and a group of slightly drunk and very obnoxious Americans who told the Sommelier that his wine list “sucked”.   So much for meeting a better class of people in posh hotels.

Anyway as I waited for them to kill Moby and stick him back on my plate with the finely turned vegetables we listened to the manager waxing lyrical about the fabulous tuna the sea around our part of the coast threw out and how it could not be beaten.

He was indeed right as a friend of ours who is a restaurant owner and chef in Murcia has an older brother who owns several fishing boats here on the Costa de la Luz which take part in the Almadraba  every year and all his catch goes to Japan.  Those clever little chaps who never manage to be original in thought but always manage to develop other people´s  products to the nth degree and get rich from it.

You are now probably wondering what the Almadraba fishing method is?  Well,  it is an ancient fishing method dating back to certainly the Romans and maybe even the Phoenicians as it appears to be shown in some of their works of art.  It happens between April and August when the tuna are moving through the Straits of Gibraltar to their ancient mating grounds.  Having spent the winter in the cold North Atlantic waters the tuna fancy a bit of sun and sex, as you do,  and make the long voyage to the Mediterranean sea to sunbath and mate -not dissimilar to many a British tourist.

Without boring you too much,   they lay long sections of netting 34 metres deep and about 3 miles off the coast. The nets are weighted by large anchors and floated at the top by cork buoys.  The word Almadraba means “place of killing” in the Arabic language.   They wait for the tuna to enter the area and then with the fishing boats pull the nets to form a circle capturing the tuna in the middle.  If you are an animal lover the next bit is not very nice as some brave local lads then kill the tuna with long knives turning the water red with their blood.  Not sure why they are called “brave” as I have never seen a hooligan tuna run up the beach and give a fisherman a good kicking but maybe I need to keep my eyes open more.

Anyway the end result is delicious and I personally think the man at the Ritz is right and you don´t get any better tuna than from our sea here on the Costa de la Luz so if you are in the area try some or at least buy yourself a can and have a good old Andalucian tuna salad.  Bon appétit!

Off I went to the local supermarket to pick up a bottle of Italian plonk.  Big mistake.  I discovered that in Spain we sell Spanish wines not French, Italian or any other breed from around the world.  Although things have changed a bit in the past 12 years our wine supply is still pretty Spanish in origin so if you have not had it before and intend spending some time here you had better get a taste for it sharpish or go teatotal.

Labouring under the misconception that the staff would be able to point me in the right direction, I felt somewhat comfortable.  Shock horror, the owner was a very friendly little man but informed me that he was Iraqi and spoke Aramaic (the language of Jesus) or Spanish!  No assistance from that quarter then.  I was stuck in front of the red wine shelf totally alone for what seemed like an hour.

I decided to employ option 2 when buying wine, look for a decent label on the premise that if they bothered to get a decent label designed then they probably bothered to put something decent in the bottle.

Our first taste of Spanish wine was Marques de Caceres a Rioja and I have to say that after two bottles we felt far more at home in our new country.  Since then we have learned a lot about wine.  Our next abode was a rental property close to a Bodega so we would wander in and out buying different wines and as our Spanish improved we learned a little here and there from the owner about wines.

When we moved to the Costa de la Luz  where wine runs in everybody´s veins our little bit of knowledge grew and nothing can be more enjoyable than a Sunday afternoon´s drive through the vinyards between Lebrija and Sanlucar de Barrameda and at least now we know the difference between white and red grapes.

Being of a generous nature I would like to share with you the little bit we have learned so you don’t have to stand in fear and trepidation before the wine shelf.  Spanish wines are pretty simple – they fall in to 3 basic categories.

CRIANZA
Red has 24 months in a cask or bottle of which 12 months have to be in an oak cask.
White and Rose have 12 months in a cask or bottle of which 6 months have to be in an oak cask.

RESERVA
Red has 24 months in a cask or bottle of which 12 months have to be in an oak cask
White and Rose have 24 months in a cask or bottle of which 6 months have to be in an oak cask.

GRAN RESERVA
Red has 36 months in an oak cask and another 36 in a bottle.
White and Rose have 48 months in a cask or bottle of which 6 months have to be in an oak cask.

Most of us ignore the lettering on the bottle for fear of being marked as an Oz Clark or Jilly Goolden geek but sometimes a quick squint can pay dividends or at least explain why it is more expensive than the bottle on the shelf below.

D.O. stands for Denominacion de Origen (designation of origen).  This official label is gen to all quality Spanish wines but not to Cava.  The name that follows makes reference to the geographical area where the wine comes from.  DO´s are acknowledged by a Regulator Council controlled by the Spanish government and they have certain requirements regards planting, cultivating, harvesting, ageing etc which must be satisfied to have the DO mark

D.O.C.a stands for Denominacion de Origen Calificada (quality designation of origen) or a higher category than DO.  This mark certifies that the wine has consistently achieved the highest quality for a number of years and quality controls and grape selection as more rigorous.  Also compulsory is on site bottling.

Wine is a very personal thing like perfume or underwear.  We all like something different but here are a few I like and would recommend to you to try.

RED
Bordon Crianza
Milflores Rioja
Viña Real Crianza
Cumbrero Rioja
Sangre del Toro

WHITE
Laxas Albariño
Marques de Riscal Sauvignon Blanc
Barbadillo

ROSE
Gran Feudo Rosado
Rene Barbier

Enjoy the wine, the Spanish swear it makes you live longer!