What do the Maltese Eat?

What do the Locals Eat?

Introduction:

Maltese cuisine is mainly a Mediterranean cuisine. It is heavily influenced by Italy and Sicily along with some influence from North Africa and from Great Britain. For example, most Maltese people love pizza and pasta just like the Italians, however they also love their Sunday roast like the British.

Maltese Stable Food:

Bread: The staple food of the Maltese is bread and every local will tell you that there's nothing like a slice of fresh Maltese bread, that has just come out of the oven! The Maltese just have to have some bread at every meal (unless it is pizza or a pasta or rice dish).

The Maltese bread or as it is locally called 'il-hobza Maltija' is a crusty sourdough bread, usually baked in wood ovens. Every village would have a number of bakeries,. The best known village for its bread is Qormi, which is in the South of the island. Walking through the old streets of Qormi you will instantly become aware of the unmistakeable aroma of freshly baked bread lingering in the streets as it emerges from the bakeries.

Basic Food Ingredients:

Vegetables, pulses and grains are the basic ingredients in the Maltese cuisine. Most vegetables are grown locally and dishes are usually prepared with seasonal vegetables although today most supermarkets stock imported fruit and vegetables making it possible to find product out of season. However no imported vegetable or fruit beats the local seasonal product, which is often on the kitchen table on the same morning it is picked from the fields!!!

The most popular grains that are used in Maltese cuisine are barley, rice and beans. Barley and pulses are used in a lot in soups. Rice is the main ingredient in one of the traditional dishes ('Ross il-Forn' - Baked rice).

Meat: The Maltese also love their meat. In most traditional households, Sunday lunch would consist of some sort of roast meat, either beef, pork or chicken. A lot of Maltese people also love to eat rabbit.

Malta produces beef and pork for local consumption. Although you do not see any cattle grazing out in the meadows / fields, there are a number of cattle farms on the island where cows are bred for the production of milk and meat.

There are also some pig farms which breed pigs for consumption. Local companies produce many pork products, the most popular would be sausages, bacon, and ham.

Poultry and rabbits formed a large part of the Islands’ food supplies, particularly in the rural areas. A good number of farmers and many rural inhabitants used to rear their own hens and rabbits in their back yard and / or garden. These breeders would also sell their poultry and rabbits to their neighbours, hence creating a hidden local trade. Today there are many poultry and rabbit farms that cater for the increasing demand for these products.

Dairy products have an important place in Maltese cuisine and although Malta is not famous for any kind of cheese, the islands produce decent dairy products from the local cattle and sheep, which are much loved and sought out by the Maltese and foreigners alike.

Milk in Malta was traditionally sold by milking goats on the streets and sold immediately as is. The unpasteurised milk sold was one of the causes of the spread of brucellosis (Maltese: Deni Irqiq; "Maltese fever") in the late 19th to the early 20th century. Themistocles Zammit is credited with stopping the pandemic.

Prior to Malta's accession to the European Union, the EU accepted Malta's request to protect the ġbejna along with the traditional variant of ricotta.

Ġbejna tan-nagħaġ is a small round cheese made in Malta from sheep milk, salt and rennet. Most sheep's milk produced in Malta is used for the production of these small cheeses.

Ġbejna is an important element in a number of dishes such as soppa tal-armla. It is often added to pasta dishes or soup to enhance flavour, as a pizza topping or the filling for ħobż biż-żejt.

Gbejniet tal-bzar: Gbejniet are sold in fresh, dried, or cured forms and may be seasoned with pepper or other herbs. It is served deep-fried as an appetizer, cured on a mezze platter. It is found on restaurant menus, or at a Maltese grocery or supermarket.

Ricotta: Irkotta is a mild, creamy, fresh cheese with a delicate flavour. Whereas Italian ricotta is made from whey (a leftover from the production of other cheeses), Benna Irkotta is produced by heating fresh milk before adding calcium chloride (a type of salt) to form the curd, making it superior in taste. Irkotta is a favourite cheese locally, used in a number of traditional dishes such as pastizzi, qassatat, irkotta pies, ravjul, lasagne, cannelloni and soppa tal-armla, as well as sweet dishes such as kannoli. Made exclusively from local cow’s milk, is a handy solution for healthy lunches and snacks.

Fresh Milk: All of Benna products are made from 100% fresh local cow’s milk. Malta Dairy Products Ltd. obtains its milk from around 6,000 dairy cows on the island, which provide approximately 105,000 litres of milk daily! The milk is fresh, natural, and full of all its natural nutrients. the milk company produces plain and flavoured yoghurts, besides different types of milk.