At Jamon Jamon we simply serve original Spanish food
made in the traditional style of a Spanish Tapas
Bar.
Tapas is a traditional type of snack served
throughout Spain and is typically eaten as a light
meal during the day or as a prelude to an evening
out, providing diners with an assortment of flavours.
Tapas incorporates a range of ingredients from different
countries and cultures, including:
- The Romans, who introduced olives,
- The Moors in the 8th century, who brought pungent spices,
almonds and citrus fruits,
- The discovery of the New Worlds brought with it potatoes,
beans, tomatoes and chilli peppers.
However, no one really knows how Tapas began, but
there are three main theories. These include:
- King Alfonso the 10th (1252 to 1284) also known
as Alfonso the Wise, whose reign is remembered as
a period of lavish patronage of education and
scholarship, and who is also remembered for the medical
advice
he was given to take small bites of food with
some wine between meals. Following his recovery,
Alfonso
is supposed to have decreed that all the inns
in the land of Castile were to serve small portions
of food with wine.
- Then there is the theory of
Andalusian natural
selection. In Andalusia, the inn owners would
cover the wine glasses with a plate to protect
them from
small flies. The inn owners wifefs then started
to prepare small sample dishes which were placed
on the Tapas or covering. The idea spread and soon
all the inns were competing with each other to
prepare increasingly elaborate and tasty dishes.
- Finally, there is the idea that Tapas emerged
in agricultural regions as a light snack that allowed
people to carry on working, rather than stopping
for a midday meal.
Whatever its origins, Tapas spread through the Spanish
mainland and is now becoming equally as popular
in London and the UK. |
