Maltese vs British food & cuisine

Maltese food focuses on fresh seafood, seasonal vegetables, olives, capers, citrus, herbs, good bread, and practical meats. The cooking is simple and honest, with flavors shaped directly by the land and sea.

What makes it stand out in a global contex is that you get touches of Sicily, North Africa, and the broader Mediterranean, yet it still feels distinctly local. Dishes are more rustic than refined, built from everyday ingredients, slow cooking, and clever preservation.

The British cuisine relies on grains in breads, porridges, and puddings, with root vegetables like potatoes, carrots, turnips, and parsnips as everyday staples. Meat has long been central – beef, lamb, and pork usually cooked simply with salt, pepper, or a few herbs. Fish is equally important, from cod and haddock in fish and chips to smoked salmon and kippers. Dairy is everywhere, with butter, cream, and cheeses like Cheddar or Stilton used in both savory dishes and desserts. For sweets, sugar, dried fruits, and imported spices gave rise to classic British puddings, cakes, and pies.

Bread and pasta are supreme among grain foods in Malta. Ħobz, a crusty loaf available in white or brown varieties, accompanies meals for soaking up olive oil or sauces. Pastizzi — flaky pastries filled with ricotta cheese or mushy peas- are everyday street food. The strong Sicilian culinary heritage is evident in plenty of pastas  –  penne, rigatoni, and macaroni paired with tomato or pesto sauces. Unlike bread and pasta, corn and rice are relatively minor in traditional cooking.

Wheat, oats, and barley shape much of British food. In Scotland, oats turn up in porridge, flapjacks, and oatcakes with cheese. Barley is now mostly for beer, though it once bulked out soups. Wheat dominates baking: crusty loaves, soft buns, and, most famously, pies.

Vegetables play a bigger role in Maltese cooking than many people expect. Simply grilled, roasted, or steamed vegetables are common. Salad is dominated by tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, bell peppers, and capers; olives also find their way into salads for a salty and briny flavor.

Dishes often center around vegetable in minestra (a hearty vegetable soup), kapunata (a cooked vegetable dish with eggplant, tomatoes and capers), bean stews, and vegetable pies.

Northern Europe’s winters made the country dependent on all types of long-lasting veggies – beets, carrots, rutabagas, parsnips, radishes, and onions. Carrots gained popularity during wartime as a substitute for sugar in cakes and desserts. Britain’s embrace of parsnips is quite distinctive – while most countries largely abandoned this root, the British love it in Sunday roasts or soups.

Maltese cuisine is balanced around traditional meats – beef, pork and poultry consumption is very similar. Rabbit evolved from a historical staple for the poor into a national meat, famously prepared as stuffat tal-fenek (Maltese rabbit stew), a rich, slow-cooked dish with wine, tomatoes, garlic, and herbs.

Chicken is used in everything from roast dinners to curries and sandwiches. British consumers prefer versatile and economical meat options; therefore, beef mince ranks as the most popular UK meat product, later transformed into beloved cottage pie, savoury mince, or beef pasties. Brits are eating less red and processed meat while increasing white meat consumption. Productivity gains in the pork and poultry sectors have reduced production costs, displacing some traditional beef and lamb from British plates.

The quality and variety the fish and seafood in Malta is outstanding. People rely on the daily catch, dishes feature seasonal lampuki (mahi-mahi or dorado), octopus, swordfish, and small coastal fish. To flavor, cooks use tomatoes, olives, capers, garlic, herbs and good olive oil.

Five species dominate UK fish and seafood consumption – cod, haddock, salmon, tuna and prawns – they make up 80 percent of all seafood eaten in the UK. Overall, British preference is quite narrow – all other seafood falls into the remaining 20 percent – Brits are conservative in their seafood choices.

Milk consumption numbers bounce around from year to year, but overall consumption stays pretty high. Ricotta appears everywhere, British cheddar is popular along local gbejna, small round cheeses made from sheep’s or goat’s milk. Traditional soups often get enriched with eggs and a chunk of gbejna melting into the broth. For breakfast, people reach for plain yogurt, sometimes drizzled with honey or mixed with fresh fruit.

Milk dominates British dairy consumption, particularly semi-skimmed milk. Cheese is Britain’s most popular dairy product, reaching 94% of UK adults’ refrigerators. Cheddar is by far the most popular, accounting for over half of all nationwide cheese sales. Britain’s cheese diversity is extraordinary – over 700 named British varieties exist. However, despite this impressive variety, British consumption remains moderate at 12.1 kilos per person annually compared to other European countries.

The numbers tell a pretty clear story: Malta consumes more sugar and sweeteners than almost anywhere else in Europe. A big chunk of that comes from soft drinks. In fact, Malta ranks second in per capita soft drink consumption, which explains a lot about where all that sugar is going.

British desserts tend to be comforting and quite traditional. Classic puddings are huge in Britain, like sticky toffee pudding, bread and butter pudding, rice pudding, and spotted dick (a steamed pudding with currants). Steamed puddings have a special place in British hearts, particularly the Christmas pudding. Trifle is another classic – layers of sponge, fruit, custard, and cream that’s perfect for gatherings.