Malta

Standfirst

A tiny archipelago in the middle of the Mediterranean, cooking with Sicilian, Arab and British hands at once — pastizzi at the corner bar, ftira on the beach, and rabbit stew for the family Sunday.

Chapter One

A kitchen at the crossroads

Malta cooks the way the islands look — golden limestone, blue sea, a small kitchen open to the terrace. Sicilian pasta traditions meet North-African spice, British sweet shops sit next to Arab bakeries, and everything is folded together by centuries of small-island memory.

A Maltese day starts with a warm pastizzo — a diamond of flaky pastry filled with ricotta or mushy peas — and a small espresso taken standing at the bar. By lunchtime it is ftira: a rustic round of bread stuffed with tuna, olives, capers and tomato, eaten with your feet in the sea.

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The Maltese cook with what the sea, the goat and the pastry shop provide — and nothing more.

Chapter Two

The long fenkata Sunday

On the traditional fenkata, rabbit is stewed slowly in red wine, garlic and bay — first as a sauce for spaghetti, then as the main course. A whole afternoon, one animal, one long table.