Maltese Food Interview

A few days ago, we traveled to Gozo for our cultural outing, and during at lunch at the Maltese restaurant, Xerri Il-Bukkett, I was lucky enough to have the chance to interview one of the restaurant workers on their beliefs and opinions on Maltese cuisine.  Unfortunately, I forgot to write down his name, but overall, he had a lot of interesting opinions about food on the islands.

He explained to me how Malta's food had been influenced by several other cultures over the years: French, Italian, and especially English, due to Malta's long period of colonization.  However despite such strong influences of other cultures, he said that he felt the Maltese people still very much considered their food to be rather unique and their own. I asked him about what first came to mind when he thought of Maltese food in general, and he said Pastizzi and rabbit were the ones that stuck out in his head. In addition to these foods, he emphasized the prominence of pasta in Maltese cooking, with Maltese pasta (penne with Maltese sausage, cream, and Gozo cheese) being his favorite. 

Finally, we talked about the differences between food on Malta and Gozo, and overall, he felt they were very similar, except for the fact that Gozo has a much stronger emphasis on cheese.  He explained that this is because Gozo has many more farms that the larger island, so naturally, they have more animals and produce more cheese and dairy products here.  He stated that Ġbejniet, fresh Gozo cheese, was definitely an important part of Maltese cuisine but especially so on Gozo.

Overall, I really enjoyed learning about the subtle differences between food on Gozo and Malta, and I am glad I got to learn about Maltese food from a local perspective.