Food of the rock 'n roll generation

Abstract

The heritage and historical events, that Malta has seen itself participant of, have enriched the mixture in culture and tradition. Maltese culture, has always incorporated food in its celebrations and social gatherings. However the hardships experienced by Maltese people, that led to this cultural change in traditional food, is most often disregarded. Through the historical changes and adaptations of our food culture, we have acquired a lot of national knowledge about our roots, and there is more to be explored. There are silent voices eager to be part of a written history, celebrating our past through food makes us appreciative of what we represent today as a Maltese food culture. This study investigated the elements, that influenced the flavours of Maltese cuisine, during the late British period in Malta. Malta was part of the British Empire for over a century and a half, and the British brought a lot of culinary variety, from all over their vast empire. The data accumulated, in conjunction with the testimonials of the participants, demonstrated that there was evident British influence in our food. However Maltese people still stayed true to their traditional food origins and cooking methods, even post-war.The introduction of certain dishes were mostly favoured by the elite in Malta as as a divergence for the food consumed, but the lower class depended more on their own resources and had no reason to experiment. Cookery books produced in the early 1900’s, also witness the limitations of food availability and accessibility.