is a type of rabbit stew in Maltese cuisine. It is the national dish of Malta. It is typically slow-cooked or braised with wine, tomatoes, garlic, bay leaves, cloves, salt, pepper and vegetables. It is sometimes served in two courses by pouring the sauce over pasta as a first course and serving the rabbit and vegetables as a main course.
The dish may have originated as a form of symbolic resistance to the hunting restrictions imposed by the Knights of St John.Cassar, C. Fenkata: An emblem of Maltese peasant resistance? quoted in Gauci-Maistre, J. Tax-xiber: the indigenous rabbit of Malta The dish gained in popularity after the lifting of restrictions in the late 18th century (and by which time the indigenous breed, Tax-Xiber, had multiplied and prices dropped) and after local domestication of rabbits, a practice which may have been imported from France.
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