Dining in Malta

Octopus Stew, cooked with peas, olives, tomatoes, and white wine

There is only so much one can do with institutional food. Cooking dinner for 500 or so, as the conference hotel where I am staying does, can only be seen in industrial terms. The decidedly Mediterranean-inspired buffets provide nourishment, yet everything - including the beautiful desserts - somehow falls a bit flat. 

I am thankful for a few opportunities to explore Maltese food outside the conference environment. I am told that the meat of choice for a Maltese feast is actually rabbit, with the head and "boney parts" stewed in a tomato sauce served with pasta as a first plate and the stewed rabbit meat served with roasted potatoes and vegetables as a second plate. The Italian influence in both content and style of serving is apparent. While English is spoken nearly everywhere on the island, Italian is unquestionably the language of food. 

Yet Maltese are quick to point out the unique aspects of Maltese cooking. While pasta is often offered as a first course, meat is usually served with potatoes. Seafood of every kind is plentiful - even if very expensive. Sea bass appears to be a nearly daily staple, along with beautiful bread, abundant olive oil, fresh goat cheeses (known as cheeselets, which I have had both spiced in olive oil and fried in crumbs), and the biggest capers I have ever seen. 

Dessert usually revolves around either fresh fruit (it is blood orange and grapefruit season) or something employing dates and/or figs. Even at this decidedly non-touristy time of the year, hawkers on the street sell various forms of nougat (a kind of fudge-like thing with nuts or other flavorings). Tiny cookies filled with figs and fried appear to be a breakfast staple. Numerous other sweet pastries are sold in small shops everywhere called pastizzerias with Italian-style small cups of coffee or cappuccino. 

A fig-filled fried crêpe

The few open fields of Malta are filled with vines, and the local wines are both white and red and very inexpensive. A meal without wine appears to be akin to an ocean without water.  Dinners are long and lingering.

Undoubtedly, I have merely scratched the surface of Maltese cooking. It is really amazing to me how much more most cultures around the world value food - be it China, India, Europe, or Latin America.  Food is an art form. Although the idea of "convenience foods" are spreading, there still seems to be a greater appreciation for the beauty of what food can be. Perhaps this is returning a bit in the United States, at least in certain quarters as local ingredients, seasonal dining, and home cooking become a bit more prevalent.  

Just one small anecdote to close. At a small restaurant near the hotel, a couple of colleagues and I have hosted several small dinners this week. The restaurant is small, no more than 10 tables. Only one waitress is not part of the family. The menu is enormous, filled with choices, yet it becomes clear very quickly that only items reliant on seasonal ingredients are available. When one of my fellow diners ordered a caprese salad (fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, and basil in olive oil), the waitress gave him the kind of look one gives a recent arrival from Mars. "How do you expect me to make you a decent caprese in January?" she asked incredulously...