not to be cliche...

...but: they do things DIFFERENTLY with food in Malta.

*gasp*

Not to heighten the 'us vs. them' paradigm that so often infiltrates enthographic research, but there's just something appealing about experiencing a cuisine that's so unlike what I'm used to. Apparently Maltese cuisine is more than great seafood and beer.
One of the favorite local dishes: Fenek, or rabbit stew. It's a rabbit cooked in wine sauce. Mmm.
And on the sweet side, the pastizzi - a food so ingrained in Maltese culture that the expression 'selling like pastizzi' has come to express a good economic situation. The word 'pastizz' in Maltese has also become a slang term for 'idiot' or 'buffoon' according to the Wikipedia article on Maltese cuisine.
As someone recently coming to appreciate cheeses other than the sliced Kraft variety, I'm interested in trying Ġbejniet, or Gozitan sheep milk cheese.
A flavor of soft drink different from most I've heard of, Kinnie is a savory-sounding drink made from 'bitter oranges and aromatic herbs' that is sometimes served before a meal to open the palate. Not surprisingly, Coca Cola has marketed a similar drink, Krest, in Malta that is also flavored like bitter oranges.