Maltese bread (, tal-malti) is a crusty sourdough bread from Malta, 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) or tomato paste, drizzled with olive oil and filled with a choice or mix of tuna, olives, capers, onion, bigilla and ġbejna. The practice of making the bread is considered a 'dying art'.
In Qormi Qormi is the main city for bread making in Malta, with a large number of bakeries. During the rule of the Knights Hospitaller, 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.D'Autun, J.Q. The Earliest Description of Malta quoted in Cassar, C. Fenkata: An emblem of Maltese peasant resistance? 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 are both factors believed to be linked to the Sette Giugno riots. Kliewer, Greta. Maltese Bread: a changing symbol of the island’s identity Blouet, pp. 188-189
Bread in the Maltese language
There are a number of idioms in the Maltese language relating to bread as the basis of survival.Cassar, C. Fenkata: An emblem of Maltese peasant resistance? Fenkata: An emblem of Maltese peasant resistance?
(), his bread is baked, meaning the person is well-off. (), he has lost his bread, meaning the person has lost their job. (), what bread does he consume?, an expression used when enquiring after a person's character. (), he needs it like his daily bread, used when a person is in great need of something. (), something which provides a lot of bread, used to describe a profitable endeavour. (), it procures no bread, used to describe a profitless venture.
See also Forni della Signoria List of breads
References
Further reading
.