Friends of the Earth Malta is aiming to conserve Comino’s natural and cultural heritage and is asking for help to turn il-Forn ta’ Kemmuna (Comino’s Old bakery) into a hub of sustainability.
On Monday, FoE Malta is organising the Comino Bakery Fundraising Talk with guest speaker Dr Noel Buttigieg.
Food Historian Dr Noel Buttigieg will be talking through the building and maintenance of bread ovens with a particular focus on the oven at the old Comino bakery.
Why the bakery in Comino? Well, FoE Malta are crowdfunding for its restoration. Sadly, the building, which was once a centre for the local farming community to gather over food, has fallen into disrepair.
It hasn’t been used as a bakery for several decades which means that it has succumbed to the elements, looters and is almost in ruins. If something is not done immediately the beautiful building is unfortunately at risk of being totally lost.
FoE Malta said that it would like to start with the basics, gaining security, installing essential facilities and responsibly clearing the site.
“These three things will help us make the project more financially sustainable in the long term by turning it into a non-profit community centre, with basic hosting facilities, space for informal workshops and room for nature walks,” the NGO said.
Noel Buttigieg is a senior lecturer and an academic researcher at the Institute for Tourism, Travel & Culture of the University of Malta specialising in cultural heritage with a particular interest in food culture.
He co-authored the book L-Istorja tal-Kultura tal-Ikel f’Malta (2004) and is the co-editor of The Struggle for Supremacy: The Mediterranean World in 1453 and Beyond (2018) and Food as ‘Voice’ (2020).
Several contributions on food, especially themes related to bread and bakers in Malta have also been published. His most recent publication is Food and the Pilgrim: Nourishment for Pilgrims and Faith-Based Tourists (Peter Lang AG International Academic Publishers, 2022).
Dr Buttigieg is currently involved in several research projects related to educational programmes intended for professionals in the cultural heritage sector. Furthermore, he is engaged in researching audience behaviour in museums through the use of innovative technology.
Dr Buttigieg was the main sponsor for the successful application for Ftira [a traditional sourdough flatbread] to be included in the UNESCO List for Intangible Cultural Heritage for Humanity in 2020.
Currently, he is one of the directors of Taste History Limited, an arm of the national agency Heritage Malta. He is also a member of the Malta Historical Society Committee and a member of the Sacra Militia Association Committee.
The talk is on Monday, the 20th of March, between 6 and 7.30pm at the FoE Malta Green Resource centre in Floriana: www.foemalta.org/map [1]
Registration is required to attend and can be done here https://foemalta.org/event/comino-oven/ [2]
For anyone who is unable to attend the talk, but would still like to donate please click here www.foemalta.org/cominozaar [3]