Beers with tapas debate in Granada

“In Granada, with two beers you have already eaten”.

Anyone has heard that phrase when telling that he travels to the Andalusian city.

That is the fame that Granada has, or drags, depending on how you look at it,

for many.

A few days ago, the mayor of Granada, Francisco Cuenca, made some comments that brought to light a debate that had been quietly heard in the city,

, an apparently minor debate that the city has taken very seriously. serious and that has generated conflicting sides.

The dilemma, beyond the usual jokes and

―nonsense, in its translation from Granada, as the mayor himself said in a tweet after jumping the controversy―, is relevant for a tourist city and services like this.

Actually, the debate is not

.

The issue is what cover, what quality and at what price.

That is the spigot that Cuenca opened with his words: “The City Council is not going to promote free tapas anymore, ever again.

You have to pay for tapas because they are haute cuisine”.

The context in which this statement was made was the final of a

tapas contest , so it is clear that the mayor was referring to the fact that one had to bet on the quality of the tapas, even if they were paid, rather than on tapas to weight that, sometimes, are accompanied by questionable quality.

In addition to the free tapa, you have to try to promote and spread Granada's haute cuisine.

We do not settle for less.

The #TapaDeHoy belongs to Antonio, from Sibarita in the #Chana and it's great.

pic.twitter.com/mVVaqC0pNs

– Paco Cuenca (@PacoCuenca) April 4, 2022

What the phrase does include is a debatable premise: whatever is said, the lid has never been free, at least not in recent years.

That phrase from Cuenca, always happens, was translated by some as "the mayor prohibits tapas."

Days later, he went to a bar in his neighborhood, recorded a video and uploaded it to Twitter.

There he made it clear: “How the hell am I going to remove the tapas if they are a hallmark of Granada”.

In Granada, with its exceptions in the hundreds of bars that exist, you pay 2.50 euros or something more for a beer or Tinto de Verano with a tapa.

That beer, without a lid, costs two euros in Valencia, 1.50 in Vitoria and Cádiz and between 1.50 and 2 euros in Malaga, a very touristy city.

In Palma, a mecca for German and British tourism, a cane can cost 2.50, "and if you ask for peanuts, they usually charge you for them," says a resident of the island.

Tapas in Granada are cheap but they are not free.

pic.twitter.com/Dx8Om9Aw77

— ABRAHAM (@ABRAHAM5001) April 1, 2022

It is true that later, in any of these places, a separate tapa is around three euros, so beer and its accompaniment in Granada costs 2.5 euros and between 4 and 5 in other cities where the drink is served plain.

It can be agreed, then, that tapas in Granada are cheaper, yes, but not free.

The trick, sometimes, is in the second or third drink.

Often the following beverages can easily come without a lid if a portion has been ordered or is not claimed.

And the problem in the bars of Granada is that the beers have a single price, with or without a lid.

If they don't put the lid on you, then the price is the same as the one they put on foreigners in Mallorca.

Gregorio García, president of the Hospitality Federation of Granada, has several starting points in the debate.

"The city cannot lose that fame as a city of the cover, because it is good for it," he points out.

However, he says, "the future must go towards quality gastronomy, even in tapas, even if you have to pay for them."

García is betting that bars and restaurants include a "paying tapas menu, like in other cities, that the customer can choose from, even if he has to pay for them separately."

In short, maintain the Granada idiosyncrasy by adapting the situation to customers who fancy special tapas.

José Antonio Dueñas, owners of the Gallas 3 gastrobar, in a student area, agrees with the mayor.

“That thing about 'you can eat with two beers' is dangerous and it's a lie, because we Granadans eat tapas and then we eat”, he says.

Dueñas' business model resembles the one requested by García.

He has a menu of

tapas that are ordered separately for a price of three euros.

Both Dueñas and César, who is in charge of a nearby restaurant that has space for eating and tapas, temper the word “tapa” and prefer to speak of “appetizer”, a dish of food to accompany beer, but that does not leave the stomach so full as to that the command of the subsequent meal is greatly reduced.

That is the risk of the motto “with two beers you eat” for restaurants, that the bill is reduced.

For bars, on the other hand, beer sales go up a lot and, with it, profits.

The city is famous for its tapas, but these are sometimes of questionable quality.

In some areas filled with college students, the dish that accompanies the drink seems more intended to fill the belly than to be eaten.

Cecilia Cano, a journalist for La Sexta in Granada, wrote a tweet in the midst of controversy that perfectly summed up the situation: “Let's be honest, many of the supposedly free tapas in Granada are not, nor are they tasty, nor can you choose them.

Enough of hypocrisy!

Tapa yes, of course, but I prefer to pay for it, choose and eat well”.

Let's be honest, many of the supposedly free tapas in Granada are not, nor are they tasty, nor can you choose them.

Enough of hypocrisy!

Tapa yes, of course, but I prefer to pay for it, choose and eat well.

– Cecilia Cano (@CeciliaMCano) April 5, 2022

Adding to this idea is Candela Heredia who, while finishing her beer, comments: “The lid is a trickster.

It is an excuse to charge more for the drink.

With few exceptions, they are usually mediocre.

I prefer to pay less for the drink and ask for quality half portions of my choice”.

At his side, Juan insists on the idea that “that thing about the lid being a gift is not like that.

They charge you in those 2.50.

What bothers me is that in certain places you have to demand the cover”.

Ana, at the other extreme, is a high school student who responds without hesitation to the dilemma: "I prefer a large tapa, although it is worse than a more

, really".

And in that debate, which should never revolve between choosing a lot and bad or a little and good, the city walks.

A tapa of shrimp tortillas in a bar in the Zaidín neighborhood of Granada.Fermin Rodriguez

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