The tapas culture extends to every corner of Seville.
It coexists with white-tablecloth dining in perfect
conjunction and mutual promotion and contributes to
making the culinary industry one of most dynamic sectors
of the city's economy and to enhancing its culinary
status in terms of quality and good service. It also
contributes, of course, to the much sought-after wealth-employment
binomial. In Seville, often cited as the birthplace
of the tapa, this is not only a deeplyrooted, appetising
tradition that Sevillians honour assiduously, but
also an excellent showcase for its culinary assets
and culture, acclaimed throughout Spain and abroad
as a pleasure not to be missed by anyone who wants
to know and feel the city, to experience its joy of
living, hospitality and vibrancy.
 |
Different tastes and customs
result in a plethora of tapas: hot or cold,
home-cooked (veritable small meals), simple
or elaborate, light or substantial, to accompany
a drink or vice versa, not forgetting the novelties,
the "creative tapa", a product of
the invention and skill of the city's chefs,
who combine tradition and contemporary tastes
to perfection in the apparently modest extent
of a tapa to offer up the most appetising culinary
treats. |
Some of the best tapas in the city's culinary culture
include pinchos morunos (small Moorish-style spicy
beef brochettes, soldaditos de pavía (battered
fingers of hake or cod deep-fried in olive oil), snails
(in season in the summer), potato in vinaigrette,
and potato salad, not forgetting the different types
of olives: the large gordales with a firm meaty texture,
the finer sevillanas, the smaller, crisper, brownish-green
manzanillas, black olives and marinated olives. The
assorted cured meats also make good tapas: caña
de lomo, morcón, cured ham, etc., and cheese
cut into wedges is yet another popular tapas option.
Montaditos are also a speciality honoured in the
tapas ritual, and the repertoire is never-ending,
as these small rolls can be filled with countless
combinations of ingredients, including palometa and
cheese, pringá, Iberian pork fillets, loin
of pork, roquefort, sliced pot-roast, capote (tuna
and sweet pepper)... Fried fish is a popular suppertime
"solution" in many Sevillian households.
Pieces of floured fish deep fried in olive oil are
served in paper cones to be eaten at home or on a
street-side terrace. The most popular fried fare includes
hake, marinated dogfish, squid, croquettes, fried
prawns, puntillitas (tiny squid) and fish roe.