With its long and rich history, Malta's cuisine naturally reflects gastronomically its rich cultural heritage that blends Arab with Mediterranean ( including Middle Eastern, French, Spanish and Catalan) and British.

There is no national Italian cuisine as such but many regional cusines, with some dishes made differently form one town or village to another and even some town and village specific dishes.

There are similarities:

- Like Italian cuisines, Maltese cuisine relies on seasonal and locally available food. It too is a simple and healthy "Cucina Povera" based above all on vegetables and cereals, relying on eggs and local cheese for protein most of the time, and reserving meat and fish dishes for special occasions.

- For reasons of climate and territory, Maltese cuisine use similar ingredients to the cusines of Southern Italy: vegetables like artichokes, sweet peppers, zucchini, tomatoes, garlic, and onions, fresh fruit (oranges, plums, peaches, grapes, figs, melons), fish and shellfish, rabbit pork and chicken etc

- For reasons of shared history and proximity leading to trading and other contact,, Maltese cuisine shares some dishes with Southern Italy. For exampe the Ricotta filled Sweet Cannoli are nearly identical to those of nearby Sicily, the savoury ricotta filled pastry snack Pastizzi resembles the sweet Sfogliatelle of Naples; Malta' s Baked Pastas, Pasta with aubergines, Patsa with tomato and ricotta etc have relatives in Calabria and Puglia, Molise and Sicily; Cooked summer vegetable salads such a Kapunata and Peperonata as similar to dises found in much of the Southern Mediterranean not just in Italy.

- Dessert is fresh fruit and cakes are reserved for holidays, feast and special occasions as in most of Italy's regional cuisines. Desserts show many traces of the Arab contribution to Malta's cusines as they are often based on nuts, dates, figs and honey. Some sweetmeats also found in Southern Sicily may well have had the same origins as their Malta counterparts.

- Though Baked Rice ia an extremely popular dish, there are no Maltese Risottos, as is also true of all Southern Italy.

- For historical reasons there is a British influence not found in Italian cuisine. Long grain rice is the kind most often used in Maltese cooking and the British also gave Malta sweet rice pudding. Curry powder is often used in the filling of the Bragjoli beef rolls, where the name of the dish is derived from Sicilian dialect. Potatoes which grow locally - especially French Fries called Chips in British English - are served far more often than in Italy. Bread is often buttered unlike in Italy, and butter and corn oil are the most commopnly used cooking fats.

- Some key features of Maltese cuisine are

- many stuffed vegetables dishes

- an emphasis on soups, of all kinds (often made with cereals as well as vegetables, meat and fish)

- many stews of vegetables, poutlry, meat and also of octopus, squid etc

- many shallow fried patties of vegetables, salt cod, ground pork and beef

It is an exceedingly rich cusine for such a small island - 10 miles by 20 - and well worth discovering|

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