- What is unique about the food in these pictures?

- Why do you think “tapas” are served the way they are?

- What do you think the history behind “tapas” could be? How did this style of food come about?

• Some say the “tapa” was born in the XIII Century when King Alfonso X (Spain) fell ill.

•His doctor recommended, as part of his recovery, that the King eat very small quantities of food between meals, with a few sips of wine.

•From that point on, the King decreed that no table in Castile would serve a single glass of wine unless it was accompanied by a bit of food.

•This was a wise decision by the King because many people were going hungry, with hardly any money or means to feed themselves.

• Now, with practically nothing, they could both eat and drink!

http://www.classical.net/music/comp.lst/alfonso.php

Historia…Historia…• Others believe that “tapas” are rooted in Spanish laborers’ daily schedule, who spent long mornings in the fields trying to finish the majority of their work before the big meal of the day: lunch!

• Since lunch isn’t served in Spain until almost 3 o’clock in the afternoon, workers brought “tapas” to the fields in order to stretch their appetites through morning.

• “Vino” became associated with “tapas” because the workers also always carried wine with them to the fields. It increased their strength and enthusiasm at work, and kept the workers warm in the winter.

http://www.arrakis.es/~jols/tapas/index1.html

¿Qué pasa aquí?¿Qué pasa aquí?

-What do you think is happening in these photos?

-What do you see? -Where could they have been taken? Why?

-

-What do you think is happening in these photos?

-What do you see? -Where could they have been taken? Why?

-

¡La Tomatina!¡La Tomatina!-La Tomatina is a food fight festival

held on the last Wednesday of August each year in Buñol, Spain (Valencia).

--Tens of metric tons of over-ripe tomatoes are thrown in the streets in

exactly one hour.

-- The night before, festival participants compete in a paella

cooking contest.

-- This festival started by happenstance in 1945, but wasn’t

officially recognized (thanks to popular demand) until 1952.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomatina

- Anywhere between 30,000 and 50,000 people come to participate in La Tomatina each year.

Buñol, the pueblo where it takes place, has only 9,000 habitants!

- What do you think about the festival? Would you like to join in the fun? Why or why not?

-- Can you think of any holidays or festivals in the U.S. that resemble La Tomatina? In what

ways are they similar? How are they different?

Check this out…Check this out…

http://www.google.comimages?hl=en&q=la20tomatina20images&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&biw=959&bih=629