Reading Reaction #3: Mediterranean Food

As an American, I have a romantic view of the Mediterranean as a place of “sun kissed rurality” (Billiar). With the ICEX team’s flight to Malta quickly approaching, I am becoming more and more excited for the month we will be spending there. I am looking forward to the entire trip, but am most excited for the food as this is always the best part of international travel. With my stereotype of the Mediterranean, I thought I would be enjoying various pastas and soups filled with sundried tomatoes and flavorful herbs. Unfortunately, as is the case with Malta, stereotypes do not hold true for every member they are applied to. While Malta’s cuisine has significant traces and influences from traditional Mediterranean cuisines, it also has influences from many other cultures. This unique mixing of cuisines is due to Malta’s strategic geographic location. Malta’s location is a transition between Europe, western Asia, and Northern Africa. This has led it to be influenced by many different countries and cultures through interactions and colonization (this includes the Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Sicilians, Knights of St. John, and British). Upon learning that Malta’s cuisine was influenced by so many cultures, I became even more excited because I believed that they would just take the best parts of each culture’s cuisines and combine them into many amazing dishes that I have never tasted before. Loving food as much as I do, I naturally chose to read the recommended texts relating to Malta’s food culture. Unfortunately, these readings relate the current state of Malta’s cuisine. In When tradition becomes trendy: social distinction in Maltese food culture Elise Billiar states that “Malta’s young republic is … reproducing the Western romantic notion of the Mediterranean in its search for its own roots”. As a nation confused about its past, Malta is trying to become what is projected onto them by Western Nations. This is sad, because Malta has a diverse past and could be embracing all of the different cultures that have affected it over the years. By doing this, Malta would also be closer to finding its roots.

On a different note, the stereotype situation is quite interesting. At first I had a stereotype of what the food would be like, but I learned about Malta’s past and thought that it could be much more. With more research, I discovered that Malta is trying to adopt the stereotype that I originally had. It is important to note that although they are trying to adopt traditional Mediterranean cuisine, they still have influences from nations that have ruled the island. Also, I will describe some of the steps Malta has taken that are leading to more traditional Mediterranean cuisine. 100,000 olive trees were planted to produce olive oil when Malta has never had olive trees or olive oil. While this is done in part for money (Malta has a climate suitable for olive trees), it depicts Malta’s trend towards becoming the vision that we have of the surrounding region.