Maltese bread ( mt, Il-Ħobż tal-Malti, tal-malti) is a crusty

sourdough Sourdough or sourdough bread is a bread made by the fermentation of dough using wild lactobacillaceae and yeast. Lactic acid from fermentation imparts a sour taste and improves keeping qualities. History In the ''Encyclopedia of Food Microbio ...

bread Bread is a staple food prepared from a dough of flour (usually wheat) and water, usually by baking. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cultures' diet. It is one of the oldest human-made f ...

from

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

, usually baked in wood ovens. It is typically eaten with spread olive oil (Ħobż biż-żejt), where the bread is rubbed with tomatoes (as with the Catalan

pa amb tomàquet ''Pa amb tomàquet'' () ("Bread with tomato"), is a traditional food of Catalan, Aragonese and Balearic cuisine . ''Pa amb tomàquet'' is considered a staple of Catalan cuisine and identity. While considered a signature toast dish in the Catalan ...

) or tomato paste, drizzled with olive oil and filled with a choice or mix of tuna, olives, capers, onion, bigilla and

ġbejna Ġbejna (, plural ') is the diminutive of the Maltese word , which means "cheese"; it is synonymous with the Maltese English word "cheeselet", i.e. "little cheese". The rest of the article describes '', a type of Maltese cheeselet made in Malta ...

. The practice of making the bread is considered a 'dying art.'

In Qormi

Qormi Qormi ( mt, Ħal Qormi ; pronounced in the Qormi dialect), also known by its title Città Pinto, is a city in the Southern Region of Malta, southwest of Valletta in the centre of the island. It has a population of 16,324 (as of March 2018), mak ...

is the main city for bread making in Malta, with a large number of bakeries. During the rule of the

Knights Hospitaller The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was headq ...

, it was known as Casal Fornaro meaning the bakers' town. Nowadays an annually held festival, ''Lejl f'Casal Fornaro'' (a Night at Casal Fornaro), takes place in Qormi on the third Saturday of October.

The role of bread in Maltese politics

Some of the earliest descriptive accounts of Malta note the dependence of the island's inhabitants on bread for survival. The impact of the British colonial government's liberalisation of the import of grain in 1837 and its failure to provide basic food provisions in the aftermath of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

are both factors believed to be linked to the

Sette Giugno Sette Giugno (from Italian for "Seventh of June") is a Maltese national holiday celebrated annually on 7 June. It commemorates events which occurred on that day in 1919 when, following a series of riots by the Maltese population, British troops ...

riots.

Bread in the Maltese language

There are a number of idioms in the Maltese language relating to bread as the basis of survival. *( mt, ħobżu maħbuż), ''his bread is baked'', meaning the person is well-off. *( mt, tilef ħobżu), ''he has lost his bread'', meaning the person has lost their job. *( mt, x'ħobż jiekol dan?), ''what bread does he consume?'', an expression used when enquiring after a person's character. *( mt, jeħtieġu bħall-ħobż li jiekol), ''he needs it like his daily bread'', used when a person is in great need of something. *( mt, ħaga li fiha biċċa ħobż ġmielha), ''something which provides a lot of bread'', used to describe a profitable endeavour. *( mt, ma fihiex ħobż), ''it procures no bread'', used to describe a profitless venture.

In Qormi

The role of bread in Maltese politics

Bread in the Maltese language

See also

References

Further reading