Tapapiés: A crossroads between Spain and the world

Discover everything about tasty Tapapiés: an annual multicultural foodie celebration in Madrid, Spain.

When: October 20th to 30th, 2022

Where: Various bars and restaurants, Lavapiés, Madrid

(Metro: Lavapiés, Line 3)

Price: €3 for the tapa and a beer

Once every fall, the eclectic neighborhood of Lavapiés in Madrid celebrates its famed Tapapiés. A revelry of cuisine and multiculturalism, Tapapiés brings foodies to the streets to try some of the over 100 participating bars’ and restaurants’ signature tapas.

The Event

2022 commemorates the twelfth edition of Tapapiés, from October 20th to the 30th. Eighty bars and restaurants in the neighborhood will participate, plus some twenty stalls from two markets: Mercado San Fernando and Mercado Antón Martín. Estrella Damm, a Spanish beer company, will sponsor the event, and for €3 you can enjoy the tapa with a caña (short glass from draught) or bottelín (small bottle) of the light Mediterranean lager. While the price has increased fifty cents from previous years, the inflation won’t impede enthusiasts from flooding the streets.

In true Spanish fashion, Lavapiés surges with life during Tapapiés. Bars and restaurants throw tables and stools onto the streets, and while spots fill up fast, most people are content to stand. As the sun sets, laughter, gestures, conversations, and coin counting abound. Participating establishments post an official sign on their storefront with a list and map of all the contenders, so instead of remaining in one spot, the best is to mosey from bar to bar, forging your own ruta de tapas.

Whether you’ve tried one and it blew you away, or you’ve tried them all (quite the feat), you can later go to the official website and vote for your favorite. The website has an English version available where you can also download the list and map of participants. The winning establishment receives €600, second place €300, and third place goes to the tapa that paired best with the sponsored beer for a €200 prize.

Last year 105 contenders competed with a diversity of tapas that ensured no dietary preference or intolerance would go hungry. This inclusivity is significant in a country like Spain where, especially in pueblos, you’ll get arched eyebrows if you mention your dietary restriction.

For example, second place in 2021 went to a vegan-friendly Cuban tapa called Papalulu: a traditional stir-fried stuffed potato with your choice of shredded chicken, cheese, or vegetables, then fried in bread crumbs and parsley. Other purely vegan options included Middle Eastern falafel or Moroccan chickpea dishes. One vegetarian option was the Senegalese Mapenda: a variety of vegetables in a spicy peanut sauce with tomato and butter, all served over Senegalese rice.

Some tapas were available gluten-free, such as a Hawaiian salmon poké bowl, a French olive tapenade, or a Japanese ceviche. The first-place winner went to a naturally gluten-free dish called Capricho de Bacalao: shredded Portuguese cod, salted and baked with onions, garlic, potatoes, leeks, cream, and nutmeg.

And if your stomach isn’t already growling, some of the more traditional Spanish tapas included: tripe with chickpeas, sirloin soaked in a Basque wine with roasted red peppers on a toasted baguette, a blood sausage croqueta, and a Colombian beef arepa.

Tapas aside, Tapapiés hosts a variety of concerts, parades, and children’s shows. Over 30 free concerts will take place in the plazas after a three-year hiatus since COVID-19. La Casa Encendida (a well-known cultural center in the neighborhood) will participate for the first time to inaugurate the festivities on October 20th at 11:30 in the morning.

Batucadas will burst through the barrio as well—lively parades that incorporate percussion and afro-Brazilian beats. In Spain, batucadas are often associated with protests and feminist marches. The ever-increasing rhythm encourages onlookers to participate by picking up a drum or dancing.

Lavapiés

It’s only fitting that Tapapiés calls the neighborhood of Lavapiés home. Narrow, winding streets burst from the central plaza, lined with pastel houses and iron balconies. Just downhill from Madrid’s centro, a slaughterhouse once stood strategically above the neighborhood and likely used the steep streets to drain blood and remains into the Manzanares river. Although uncertain, the name Lavapiés (washes feet) could refer to a large fountain in the plaza once used for precisely that.

By the 1800s (the slaughterhouse relocated) the neighborhood embodied Spanish life and culture. Great songs, poems, and operas idolized the dress, celebrations, and people of Lavapiés. The 1900s and the Spanish Civil War brought decline to the barrio, converting it into a neglected working-class district. Attracted by empty housing and low rent prices, an influx of young Spaniards arrived in the 70s, bringing with them counter-culture, graffiti, and squatters. Immigrant populations soon joined the trend, transforming the area into a vibrant and cosmopolitan hub.

Spain has an immigrant population of just over 15%, while Lavapiés boasts over 50%. What once epitomized Spanish culture has become a multicultural melody. A single street takes you past an Italian trattoria, a Senegalese restaurant, an Indian bakery, a Cuban restaurant, and of course, dozens of tapa bars. All of Tapapiés’ participants celebrate the Lavapiés of the 21st century, offering some of the most traditional Spanish tapas alongside international flavors.

Tapas

When travelers dream of Spain, tapas surely make their way into the itinerary somewhere after flamenco and sangría. While the tradition of serving a small plate with a glass of wine or beer has caught universal attention, the custom has humble roots.

One anecdote traces back to the Middle Ages when a sickly king Alfonso The Wise was prescribed regular sips of wine as a part of his recovery. To combat drunkenness, Alfonso ate small snacks with his treatment. Pleased with the results after recuperating, the King ordered that no tavern should serve alcohol without a small dish to tapar (cover up) the rowdier aspects of inebriation.

In a country of many balances, tapas are rightly a national symbol from sultry Andalucía to the more rugged north. Geographically Spain is balanced by coastlines, deserts, and mountains, while socially Spain is applauded for its work-life balance—complete with siestas and many national and local fiestas. The tapa follows suit, balancing a love for sustenance with a love for drink.

And do Spaniards love to drink. A 2019 European Health Interview Survey showed that Spain ranked second in the EU with 13% of the population 15 and older drinking at least once daily. Any afternoon stroll through the streets of Madrid backs up the data—the patios of cafeterías and bars buzz with activity. However, the same survey revealed that Spain ranks as one of the lowest for binge drinking episodes. Spaniards don’t meet up solely to drink, but rather, the alcohol accompanies the experience of soaking in the weather, your company, the bustling atmosphere, and of course, the tapas.

Often, a tapa is a snack served with your drink. Depending, this may be as simple as a plate of olives or potato chips (think pricey, centric bars that would charge you for anything more elaborate). More typically, at a bar de toda la vida (working-class bars found on every block), you get small slices of toasted bread with cured ham or a portion of tortilla de patatas.

On the other hand, you can also make a more substantial meal out of tapas and go tapeando. As many restaurants specialize in small dishes, you can jump from one to the other (or hunker down at one) and enjoy a variety of more elaborate, albeit more expensive, tapas.

Another anecdote goes that on their journey to Cádiz, an ancient city on the southern coast, Los Reyes Católicos (the first King and Queen of unified Spain) stopped at a tavern on the beach for a glass of wine. Buffeted by gusts of sand from an Atlantic wind characteristic of the region, King Fernando asked for anything the tavern might have to cover their glasses. An astute waiter placed a slice of cheese over their glasses with the words, “Your tapa, your Majesty.” The small act became a tradition, and more than 500 years later, a defining symbol of Spanish cuisine.

Tightly packed in the narrow streets of Lavapiés, a crossroads between past and present, conservatives and progressives, pure castizo culture, and multiculturalism, Tapapiés emerged from these clashes to pair the best of Spanish cuisine and culture with global tastes and traditions.