Eating out and festive meals
Food is eaten both at home and outside the home. Food can be eaten at school, at worksite canteens, in restaurants, and at picnics or barbecues.
Food is normally considered a means of survival, but many times it is also used to celebrate important occasions. Be it a fun or sad encounter, food is always presented to help in the socialising event. Weddings, funerals, birthdays and so many occasions are marked with special food. For special annual feasts, like Christmas, Easter, or Mnarja, special particular festive food is prepared much of which has specific symbolism.
Many people eat food away from home, sometimes voluntarily but many times involuntarily. School children and workers have to eat away from home due to their school or work hours. Many opt to take a packed lunch prepared from home, especially school children as Malta’s state schools do not have the service of canteens or school meals. The only exception is a special school for students’ with special needs, whose school meals are provided by a private catering company. Large worksites, such as factories or bank headquarters, often offer the service of a canteen or cafeteria. Read more
Going out to socialise often ends up with a meal in a restaurant or buying food from a fast food outlet. This is often resulting in the consumption of excessive amounts of food (large portions), or food that is high in fat, salt and sugar. Hence, its negative impact on the health of our nation – increasing the risk for obesity, cardiovascular ill-health and other diet-related diseases.
But the Western world fast food culture is hurting more than our waist lines and arteries. With it’s grab-and-go, packaged food often accompanied by unnecessary condiments, fast food outlets are another one of the country’s sources of litter and landfill components. Read more
During relaxing days, families often look for opportunities to spend their free time outdoors in the company of their loved ones and friends. In Malta, this brings to mind picnics during the winter months and barbecues for summer evenings. Read more
Maltese cuisine is a potpourri of traditional recipes handed down from one generation to another by word of mouth, combined with the influences left behind by the many foreign colonisers, as well as borrowing of ideas from neighbouring Sicily and North Africa.
Traditional Maltese foods are no longer a regular feature of the weekly diet in many families; thus festive meals offer a good excuse to be patriotic and prepare an often sumptuous meal based on a variety of traditional recipes. Read more
When it comes to luxury foods consumers should choose wisely in relation to source and production methods. It is a known fact that some luxury foods, such as caviar, salmon, foie gras, are very expensive and can sometimes be sourced and produced unsustainably. Read more
