Say CHEESE!

Looking at Malta’s cheese-making tradition as a source for rural tourism

Food tourism in Malta, particularly that which is related to Maltese cheese, is not satisfactorily developed and tourists are not aware of the local cheese tradition possibly because several local producers are not marketing their product. One reason could be because they do not always follow the traditional way of producing Maltese cheese since not all of them are using goat’s milk but are replacing it with cow’s milk. This is leading to the loss of an authentic product.

These are some of the aspects that came out from a survey that commenced last August among a number of stakeholders from the tourism and business industries. The survey, conducted by 5 Senses Malta effectively kicked off the TastyCheeseTour Project, an initiative that will seek to en- courage locals to look at Malta’s rich cheese-making tradition as an opportunity for rural tourism development.

“When you think you’ve seen it all, you suddenly find out Malta has more to offer. Its cheese-making tradition and its cheese-related culinary dishes are cases in point. This is why we truly believe that Malta can foster a sustainable tourism product that promotes and valorises cheese production and can turn this into an activity to attract visitors and enhance their rural and culinary experience in Malta,” says Fjoralba Kodrasi from 5 Senses Malta who is coordinating the TastyCheeseTour Project locally.

TastyCheeseTOUR is an EUfunded project that is seeking to develop Cheese Tours in six member countries namely Bulgaria, Italy, Latvia, Malta, Slovenia and Spain. These tours will be developed with the direct participation of the local community by combining the cultural, industrial, culinary and agricultural heritage of the six respective regions.

“There are over 240 different types of cheese with a certain de- gree of protection in the European Union making the EU cheese market the largest in the world. Our main objective therefore is to help Malta take advantage of this reality and through sustainable tourism, help in the creation of a new tourism product – a Cheese Tour – a product based on experience, tradition and production,” added Ms Kodrasi.

5 Senses Malta is therefore launching training seminars over the period of a week for all those interested in leveraging the opportunities of cheese-making and its culinary tradition. The ‘Training in Tourism and Cheesemaking Industry” seminars will be held between Friday 17th and Friday 24th February in Mosta and will be led by Dr Noel Buttigieg and Ms Sarah Faith Azzopardi from the University of Malta. Incoming tourism agencies, tour operators, restauranteurs, tourism stu- dents, farmers and businesses who are interested in a strategy to promote the Maltese cheese and develop this food tourism industry should attend these seminars – participation is absolutely free of charge.

Topics will range from an introduction on tourism policy and trends in Malta, to sustainable, experiential and creative tourism. Other topics to be tackled during the week include agro tourism, Food Culture, Food and Identity, the history and culture of Cheese, how to develop and market a new tourism product and creating a tourism itinerary.

The TastyCheese TOUR Project follows another recent project led by 5 Senses Malta, the Fit On Olive Trails (FOOT) which celebrated the olive oil trail and presented an ideal way to discover Malta’s history, culture, lifestyle and the deep, shared Mediterranean roots through the culture of olive oil production as a model for sustainable tourism.

To register, please contact Fjoralba Kodrasi: fjoralba@5-sensesmalta.com. For more information, visit www.tastycheesetour.eu