Almonds, walnuts, chestnuts and hazelnuts are often used in savory dishes to thicken and enrich sauces. Toasted almonds are a classic nibble with a glass of sherry. Rioja may be the most famous Spanish red wine. Sherry, produced in the area around Jerez, is one of the world's great wines. It is the perfect foil for shellfish, ham, nuts and tapa foods.
Tapas are small portions of foods, both hot and cold, served in wine bars and taverns.
With them, you drink dry Spanish sherry, wine, cider or beer. Tapas are always accompanied by olives, almonds and rustic bread, the better to mop up the sauces. Trust me, they are so varied and delicious, a tourist can spend a week in Spain tapa hopping, eating nothing but tapas for lunch and dinner. An expat expert Growing up in Decatur, Ill., Mendel hardly expected to make a career writing about traditional village cooking in Spain. But there she is, an American journalist living in the town of Mijas on the Costa del Sol, writing about the food she has loved for 30 years.