A Brand New Food System
One of the latest projects at the Food Systems Directorate involves creating local ‘biotrails’ and ‘biodistricts’.
Director Sonya Sammut explains what it is all about in this first article of a series.
I get frustrated when people ask me what the role of the Food Systems Directorate is. In my mind, it is all very clear. We drive sustainability and resilience across the Maltese food chain through policy and promotion. And the way we work – putting pride and passion in what we do, and respecting people, the environment, and the changing realities of our country – is different.
We bring about a new brand of food systems. One of the projects we care about aims to create strong supply chains that can add value to local food, add profits to local farmers, fishermen, and food businesses, and add competitive distinctiveness to the local food sector.
A suitable model that has been used with success in countries such as Italy, Germany, Belgium, and France, is that of ‘biotrails’ and ‘biodistricts’, defined in the EU’s Organic Action Plan as geographical areas where farmers, the public, tourist operators, associations and public authorities agree to manage local resources around three core concepts for healthy food systems: biological sustainability; authentic provenance; and community engagement. A case of nature meets culture.
For Malta, this model is not only fully aligned to our recently launched Strategy for Resilient Food Systems and its goals to improve viability of the local farming and fishing sectors; secure food supply in the long-term; and nurture a knowledge-driven culture of conscious consumption; but is also a good example of how it is possible to blend tradition with innovation.
What attracts visitors to these places – often in relatively remote rural areas – is that the food and the experiences are genuinely different yet strangely familiar. They taste of home. When people travel and leave behind their known routine, they also wish to make memories they can take back home to that same routine.
Memories made with real ingredients – foods and flavours that speak of provenance: the sea, the soil, the salt, the trees, the rain, the wind, the sun, and the hands that made them; foods and flavours that tell a story worthy of remembering.
A story that has not been faked. As a Mediterranean island, we already have our fair share of wealth in geographical areas and food intimately tied to our climate, history, and heritage. Our well-known ġbejna tan-nagħaġ, the first Maltese food to have acquired the prestigious Protected Designation of Origin label earlier this year, is a prime example. It is not the only one.
We have distinct wines labelled with geographical indications. We have the crunchiest ftira, inscribed in 2020 on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
What attracts visitors to these places – often in relatively remote rural areas – is that the food and the experiences are genuinely different yet strangely familiar. They taste of home. When people travel and leave behind their known routine, they also wish to make memories they can take back home to that same routine.
Memories made with real ingredients – foods and flavours that speak of provenance: the sea, the soil, the salt, the trees, the rain, the wind, the sun, and the hands that made them; foods and flavours that tell a story worthy of remembering.
A story that has not been faked. As a Mediterranean island, we already have our fair share of wealth in geographical areas and food intimately tied to our climate, history, and heritage. Our well-known ġbejna tan-nagħaġ, the first Maltese food to have acquired the prestigious Protected Designation of Origin label earlier this year, is a prime example. It is not the only one.
We have distinct wines labelled with geographical indications. We have the crunchiest ftira, inscribed in 2020 on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
We have a variety of fresh vegetables, fruit, meats, and fish, standing proud on Maltese shelves. We have a good number of farms who are certified to organic standards, and others whose brand position rests on benefits such as assurances that pesticides and antimicrobials have not been used.
We have Michelin-starred restaurants who use Maltese olives, mazzit, honey, pork, kirxa, and Jerusalem artichokes to reimagine traditional dishes and give them a modern twist.
We have fresh food markets, where people can buy directly from farmers and fishermen. We have candidate foods, waiting to be recognised as products of origin or of traditional specialty.
We have our olive oil, our zalzett tal-Malti, our craft beers, our qubbajt, kunserva, our cheeses, our ħalib tal-Benna, Russell Crowe’s preferred pastizzi, and we have jaw-dropping scenic places that melt away your mind’s stress and are great for Instagram.
We have quality. It is only logical, then, that our next step would be to prove it, because it is one thing to declare that as a local farm or business, you offer genuine food and experiences, and another to offer customers the guarantees they need to know that what they are paying for is truly authentic. It is the real thing. That is why in building a new brand of Maltese ‘biotrails’ and ‘biodistricts’, we are introducing and implementing certification.
As part of the project, we shall be supporting participants to become certified to internationally recognised standards of traceability and, wherever possible, to organic standards, and we take this opportunity to invite all those farms, food processors, and operators in the HoReCa sector who are interested to participate in this project to get in touch by sending an email on foodsystems.mafa@gov.mt.
If there’s one sure thing about the Food Systems Directorate other than it is a relatively young brand, it is that in the work we do, we collaborate with others.
We have Michelin-starred restaurants who use Maltese olives, mazzit, honey, pork, kirxa, and Jerusalem artichokes to reimagine traditional dishes and give them a modern twist.
We have fresh food markets, where people can buy directly from farmers and fishermen. We have candidate foods, waiting to be recognised as products of origin or of traditional specialty.
We have our olive oil, our zalzett tal-Malti, our craft beers, our qubbajt, kunserva, our cheeses, our ħalib tal-Benna, Russell Crowe’s preferred pastizzi, and we have jaw-dropping scenic places that melt away your mind’s stress and are great for Instagram.
We have quality. It is only logical, then, that our next step would be to prove it, because it is one thing to declare that as a local farm or business, you offer genuine food and experiences, and another to offer customers the guarantees they need to know that what they are paying for is truly authentic. It is the real thing. That is why in building a new brand of Maltese ‘biotrails’ and ‘biodistricts’, we are introducing and implementing certification.
As part of the project, we shall be supporting participants to become certified to internationally recognised standards of traceability and, wherever possible, to organic standards, and we take this opportunity to invite all those farms, food processors, and operators in the HoReCa sector who are interested to participate in this project to get in touch by sending an email on foodsystems.mafa@gov.mt.
If there’s one sure thing about the Food Systems Directorate other than it is a relatively young brand, it is that in the work we do, we collaborate with others.
