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It’s the first shibboleth of conservative politics to fight against the redistribution of wealth, but according to ThinkFood Group maven José Andrés, the politically motivated reluctance to share extends to the plate, too.

At a Washington Post Live event yesterday, Andrés—joined by Post food critic Tom Sietsma, who appeared incognito—dished on the emergence of tapas as a leading culinary past-time. Well, only for some. Apparently, many GOP diners at Andrés’ Jaleo restaurants in Chinatown, Bethesda, Arlington and Las Vegas have trouble with the sharing concept:

“We still have very traditional people — I mean Republicans — who will say, ‘I want my plate. I don’t want to share.’ And I always tell everyone the rule of the 15 inches. If you want to enjoy tapas and the Spanish way of eating, you put the plate in the middle of the table. If you don’t care about the Spanish way of eating and you want only to enjoy a good Spanish dish, you move the plate 15 inches in and you put it in front of you. This is a simple innovation.”

Has Andrés been in the bubble too long? Perhaps this is what happens when you write your cookbook with the assistance of a political horserace chronicler like Richard Wolffe.

Then again, it’s possible some of Andrés closeness to the halls of power will be fruitful in other areas. Also at the talk, he mentioned that his company’s new offices, set to open in three months, will look like either an office once used by retired Gen. Stanley A. McChyrstal or a modern television news studio. “Andrés says the new digs are based on General McChrystal’s office with a U shape, a big communications center and a big television panel with lots of touchscreens ‘like you see on CNN’,” Eater wrote.