Dolores Cristina, Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport hailed the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue and encouraged the Maltese and Gozitan community to engage in such a dialogue with all people, coming into Malta to live or on holiday, from a multitude of different countries with different cultures and identities as this will enhance knowledge and strengthen solidarity between peoples.

The Minister launched the summer instalment of Taste a Shared Culture (Ghidli x’hobz tiekol.) organized by St. James Cavalier Centre for Creativity as National Coordinating Body of the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue in Malta.

As part of the 5 senses creative project, through Smell and Taste a food exhibition aims at making a trip to the supermarket a journey of discovery around the world, offering new insights into the food that is prepared and consumed at home and in our communities.

Culture Minister Hon. Dolores Cristina was present for the launch that took place at GS superstore which together with Carters Supermarket, Arkadia St. Julians and Gozo have extended their support in hosting the project. During the launch, members of diverse cultural communities in Malta presented African, Arab and Japanese delicacies such as Sambusa, Basboosa and Sushi.

Food and eating are a central part of every culture. Sharing food has been a way for people to create and sustain bonds with others, strengthening ties with individuals, communities and even countries. Similarly today, the exchange of cultures through migration and movement of people in Europe will enhance this culinary experience.

Based around the four seasons, the supermarkets are exhibiting information based on extensive research conducted by anthropologist Elise Billard.

Billard said that “anthropological research aims to build bridges between who we are and what we perceive as distant or foreign. We all think with stereotypes that are only a simplification of reality. We think of others as different when in fact we discover that these distant cultures have many things in common with us. Looking without preconceptions to our own culture and to others is not an easy thing. The only way to conduct objective research is to look everywhere, even in the most unlikely places. That’s how one finds that the oldest beer in the world was brewed in Iraq.”

Food is the first product that was exchanged between societies and is for this reason a perfect subject to qualify the long standing dialogue that has existed between cultures. Today, more than ever, we cannot survive without importing food from other continents, more so for a country like Malta that has depended on imports since prehistoric times when Sicily provided the islands with sheep and flint blades. Maltese have always traded with overseas ports, and not only from Sicily or Tunisia. Our Bakkaljaw came from the cold seas of Scandinavia since the end of the Middle Ages and our tomatoes originated from Mexico. Thus what we call our own is only an extension of another culture that has shared its richness with us.

This second presentation explores summer as a time of informal gatherings with curious facts about various products that have travelled around the world through time and integrated into other food cultures along the way. Information boards about different uses of recycled bread from around the world and the history of Soy will be added to the current information on the history of coffee.

Customers can also collect the free summer recipe pack with information about the season and tasty recipes of Sushi, Tabbouleh and Ricotta with fig jam. The recipes form part of a set of recipes from around the world.

The ‘Taste & Smell’ Actions will run for one year with the participation of Arkadia Foodstore (Portomaso, St Julians), Arkadia Victoria Gozo, GS Superstore (Naxxar) and Carters Supermarket (Paola).

The 2008 European Year of Intercultural Dialogue is an initiative of the European Union with co-funding from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Youth and Sports. St. James Cavalier Centre for Creativity is the National Coordinating Body for the year with Atelier Culture Projects acting as project coordinators.

For further information visit www.dialogue2008.eu or www.sjcav.org

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