In parts of Madrid and along the South of Spain this was the reality before tapas became an international 'boom':

Go to the bar. Order a drink (1/3 pint perhaps). Drink arrives - which gets put on your tab. So does a little something to eat. No charge. Order another drink, get another tapa. And so on and so on. Food encourages you to drink. Quality encourages you to return.

Within Madrid (and other cities) where the tapas bars stand cheek by jowl together, each bar may have their own speciality and people will seek it out. Going 'de tapas' will involve visiting one bar, having a couple of drinks and enjoying the tapas of that establishment, then going to another bar, and so on and so on.

What's on offer? Oof! You could write a book on this. Here are a few selections.

Montaditos:

olive and anchovy (not the heavily salted kind), tuna and piquillo pepper, pork loin (lomo), serrano ham


Pimientos del padron (a russian roulette - some are hot/spicy - some are not and there's no way to tell which)
Hot chorizo sausages, calamares a la romana, patatas bravas, chipirones

I could go on and on and on....

Sure, I like wasabi peas, and edamame, and arare (rice crackers) but for bar snacks... tapas!

Even my wedding 'cake' was a huge portion of a popular Spanish tapa ('ensalada rusa' - which was served with bread sticks as tapas in the evening - who wants 'real cake' as a bar snack???)