If you eat one Maltese thing, eat this. Not because it is the tastiest — although it is — but because of what it meant.
Every country has a national dish. Malta's is a small animal braised in wine and garlic, and the reason it matters is political.
Why rabbit, of all things
Under the Knights, hunting was restricted — rabbit was for the rulers, not for the people who lived here. Eating one was a quiet act of getting away with something. When the restrictions eventually loosened, the Maltese did not simply eat rabbit; they built an entire ritual around it. The fenkata: a long, loud meal, usually with the pasta cooked in the rabbit sauce first and the meat brought out after.
That is a national dish in the fullest sense. Not a recipe — a habit of defiance that turned into a family occasion.
Ours is braised slowly in wine and garlic until it gives up completely. It takes hours and it cannot be hurried, which is the usual way to tell whether a kitchen means it.
You can read about Malta, or you can order the rabbit. The rabbit is faster.
Every country has a national dish. Malta's is a small animal braised in wine and garlic, and the reason it matters is political.
Why rabbit, of all things
Under the Knights, hunting was restricted — rabbit was for the rulers, not for the people who lived here. Eating one was a quiet act of getting away with something. When the restrictions eventually loosened, the Maltese did not simply eat rabbit; they built an entire ritual around it. The fenkata: a long, loud meal, usually with the pasta cooked in the rabbit sauce first and the meat brought out after.
That is a national dish in the fullest sense. Not a recipe — a habit of defiance that turned into a family occasion.
Ours is braised slowly in wine and garlic until it gives up completely. It takes hours and it cannot be hurried, which is the usual way to tell whether a kitchen means it.
You can read about Malta, or you can order the rabbit. The rabbit is faster.
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