Before a trip to a new country, most people look up the scenery, the sights and the best places to go. The food usually comes as a surprise once you arrive. Knowing a country’s cuisine ahead of time is a real advantage, though. Food is part of daily life, so it helps to think about what you want to try while you are there, especially somewhere with as many distinctive dishes as Malta. Even though it is a small island that imports nearly all its food, centuries of occupation and its closeness to Spain, France, North Africa and Italy gave Malta a cuisine all of its own.
So you know what to look out for, here is a run-through of the most popular Maltese foods to try when you visit Malta and Maltalingua.
Typical Maltese food:
Pastizzi are the classic Maltese street food, sold everywhere in “Pastizzerias” and plenty of shops across the towns. They are little puff-pastry parcels, usually filled with ricotta, spinach, or mushroom and chicken. You will find sweet versions too.
One of Malta’s best-loved traditional dishes is Rabbit Stew. Small pieces of rabbit are cooked slowly in a pot with carrots, garlic, onions, red wine, potatoes, and tomato purée.
Octopus is common here too. It is often done as a stew with vegetables, garlic, sweet tomato paste, and onions, and it also turns up as a sauce served with spaghetti.
The Ftira is a sandwich made with Maltese bread and all sorts of fillings. A classic one is “kunserva”, a sweet tomato paste, topped with tomatoes, olive oil, tuna, salt, and pepper. You will also see them served open. Other toppings might be olives, capers, corn, or green peppers. It is a favourite all year round, usually eaten as a starter or a snack.
Bigilla is a traditional Maltese bean paste, a popular dip and spread you will find in every shop on the island.
You really cannot visit Malta without trying the Maltese Platter, and we think so too, which is why it is one of the dishes we serve at our Welcome Parties every week. That is where the photo below was taken. A platter like this includes the Maltese dip bigilla, Maltese goat cheese, olives, sundried tomatoes, and small dry round biscuits for scooping up the dip and everything else. Pork sausages or Maltese bread often go on the plate as well.
Malta has some lovely sweets too, well worth trying while you are here. They also make a good souvenir for letting people back home taste a bit of the island.
Date Cakes/Rolls are small fried dough pockets with a rich date filling. You will spot them everywhere, and they are a hugely popular street food in Malta.
Just as good are the Honey Rings. They are dough rings filled with Maltese black syrup, known as black treacle, so, oddly enough, there is no honey in a Honey Ring at all. You will find them in any supermarket or restaurant, and they are well worth a go.
Maltese Kannoli are delicious pastry rolls, usually filled with sweet ricotta. You will often find extras like chocolate or chopped nuts mixed in. They are a popular street food too, and they originally come from Sicily.
That is a quick taste of what Maltese food has to offer. We want you to get to know everything worth seeing and trying during your stay in Malta and at Maltalingua, so alongside this overview you can sample some Maltese dishes at our weekly Welcome Parties. And of course the Maltalingua team is always happy to point you in the right direction, so that learning English under the sun is the best experience it can be.