Yes, why tapas? Tapas are small dishes, like appetizers in some ways, but when put together, they can make up an entire meal. Originally tapas were small bits of food given to patrons who bought a glass of sherry. You could set the tapa over your glass to keep the flies out. If no flies bothered your tapa, you ate it when you downed the last of your drink. Convenient, and fun, too!

The etiquette of tapas today is very different. Tapas range from a small dish of olives to a small dish of patatas alioli, which are potatoes mixed with a mildly spicy mayonnaise and garlic. Shrimp, kabobs, crocetas, all manner of delicious Spanish culinary treats have entered the realm of tapas.

The most important thing about tapas is that they are meant as small additions to the conversation you have with friends at the bar, restaurant or tosca, and people often go "tosca hopping" in Spain, moving from one bar-restaurant to another, keeping the conversation lively and the making the evening fun until the wee hours. If you go to enough toscas, you feed your appetite, help the struggling sherry industry, and make new friends along the way. Any wonder why the siesta has been so slow to go out of fashion in Spain?