Food tours and cooking classes are a good way to find Maltese food quickly. Much of it is in bakeries, markets and homes rather than on restaurant menus.
What is on offer
Walking food tours
These usually run in Valletta or the Three Cities, stopping at bakeries, a pastizzerija, a wine bar and a market. The best ones are as much history as eating.
This is the fastest way to find the food that is not on any menu.
What you will be eatingBook a food tour
Cooking classes
These typically start with a market visit, then you cook three or four dishes. Rabbit, bragioli and imqaret are the usual repertoire.
You come away able to make the thing rather than just having eaten it.
The markets
Wine tastings
Several Maltese estates open to visitors. Ask specifically whether you are tasting wine made from Maltese-grown grapes or from imported fruit, because both are produced here.
Only one of them tells you anything about Malta.
Maltese drinksBook a wine tasting
Fenkata evenings
The full rabbit dinner, usually in a village setting, run as a group event. The pasta comes first, served in the sauce, and the meat follows.
It is a social occasion rather than a meal. It is the most authentically Maltese thing on this list.
About fenek
A food tour of six is a completely different experience from a food tour of twenty-five. The price is often similar. Small-group operators say so prominently. If nobody mentions a maximum, assume it is large.