Malta

Maltese food blends Sicilian and North African influences on a rocky Mediterranean island, rabbit stew (fenek), flaky pastizzi, and hearty bread. Local cheeselets, capers, and sun-ripened produce define the plate.

The fenkata is the occasion rather than the recipe: rabbit stewed slowly in wine and garlic, traditionally served in two courses, the sauce over pasta first and the meat afterwards, and eaten in company that stretches across an afternoon. One account links its rise to the lifting of hunting restrictions after the Knights left in the late eighteenth century, which is a theory worth attributing rather than stating.

Pastizzi come with two fillings and no others: ricotta or mushy peas, folded into a diamond of flaky pastry and sold cheap and hot from small shops all day. Gbejniet are the tiny sheep's-milk cheeselets, eaten fresh, dried or rolled in cracked pepper, and they turn up in salads and baked pasta because the rocky island supports goats and sheep more easily than cattle.

A crusty ring of Maltese bread filled with tuna, tomato, capers, and olives, the island's sun-soaked sandwich.