Tapas history

Competing claims over the first written recipe suggest the dish could be as old as the 18th century, or as young as 1884.

As for written records, The Steward’s Handbook and Guide to Party Catering ©1889 is a cooking manual written in the USA. It states “CROQUETTES—The word signifies something crisp.

Officially croquettes were invented or at least formalised by Auguste Escoffier in 1898.

The next claim is from a Madrid restaurant called “las Bravas”. Supposedly established in 1933.

And into the late 1980’s and 90s, Pintxos develops to be more than just little snacks at the bar and become miniature works of art which represent main course dishes.

Tapas was founded by San Francisco-based Korean entrepreneur Chang Kim in 2012, initially under the name Comic Panda.

By 2015 the company had received $3.4 million USD in backing from both American and Korean investors, including from South Korean internet company Daum Kakao and from former Facebook Chief Technology Officer Adam D’Angelo.

Tapas released a statement in May 2017, saying that the Right of First Refusal was "not to take any rights away or steal your content.