The Way We Ate: Memories of Maltese Meals

What is Maltese food? Like the food of all nations it moves with the times and food fashions or fads are quick to come and go. It is the signature dishes - the tried and tested dishes - that endure to become "traditional". But even these are subject to change and availability. Imagine if food purists sneered when potatoes were woven into the tapestry of Maltese food? What then of our famous patata Maltija, patata fgat or patata fil-forn? Or our perfect hobz biz-zejt that was probably first made with oil and a few olives - if traditionalists had sniffed at the tomato and said, "what's this strange foreign fruit?", where would our national dish be today? So it is far more interesting to trace the evolution of our nation's favourite dishes; why we eat what we eat and how we eat it. Even, when we eat it. All of these play a part in stitching together a multi flavoured backdrop to our history because eating is something people have to (and want to) do every day and always have. The foods they chose to eat were the result of the environment they were living in. The foods we choose to eat today are conditioned by their choices and influenced by our situation today. Therefore our meals are a tiny, if slightly cloudy, window onto the past, kindly held open by recipes handed on down through the generations, making us the eaters we are today. This book traces the history of some of our popular dishes, meals and festivals. The information therein creates a wonderful picture of the past.