Have you ever travelled Spain and they have offered to you some Tapas for free ? That is one popular customer in some of the Spanish cities such as Segovia or Granada.
If you are reding this article you may be thinking in coming to visit the Basque Country and you have heard that here we don’t eat tapas though pintxos.
So the next logical question is why in Basque region they do Pintxos why in other parts of Spain they do Tapas???
Ok my friend, the answer is not clear but I will try to solve it as best as I know.
Tapa is a tradition that comes from medival times. In Spain it was tipical to cover the glass of wine with a dish that had some food on it. From there people started to call to an small dish with food tapa which means cover.
On the other hand, in Basque country bars started to give pinchos which are basically a piece of bread with some food over it holded by a touthpick or pincho, the pincho is the toughpick. Here in Basque Country instead of writting the Spanish way Pincho, we use the Basque one with tx, pintxo.
Regionally tapas are more spread than pinchos. Pinchos are mainly offered in the North of Spain and the city of San Sebastian is particulary famous for them because of the creativity shown from their bars, specially since San Sebastian got the biggest amount of michelin stars per inhabitant in the world.
Trainees that study in those michelin restaurants arrived to the pintxo bars and they started to apply the same michelin tecniques to the pintxo creation. Furthermore, there are competitions which make them be even more creative.
Other differences between Tapas and Pintxos are:
- Tapas may be free in some regions of Spain while pintxo is never free.
- Tapas are normally more simple than pintxos. Some pintxo are very sophisticated and creative.
- Most Pintxos are not anymore holded by touthpicks though showed on a dish like tapas
I hope you like my explanation. If you come to San Sebastian, and you would like to hire a guide, please let me know.
