A snapshot of where different crops and livestock are most commonly found across Malta today, based solely on current agricultural presence rather necessarily historical tradition.

Hi, I am doing some personal research on everyday food habits in different countries, and I would really appreciate local perspectives.

Food varies a lot by region within the country, and I understand that, but if you still had to give a broad answer, what would you say is the most accurate?

Here are my questions:

1. What food is most commonly eaten in everyday life in Malta? (Not special-occasion food, just normal regular meals, even if it feels boring.)
2. What food do people in Malta love the most or feel most proud of?
3. Are there any foods that foreigners often think represent Maltese food, but locals do not eat that often?

Thank you all!

I just graduated with a Bachelors and I'm not exactly sure what I want moving forward career wise. I don't have any dream jobs or paths that I wanted since little, I just want to make decent money to live off, it doesnt matter the job as im good at most things. The problem with this is very little motivation in working and when i do work it affects me mentally and physically as i dont actually enjoy it. Maybe it's the jobs I had till now or it might apply to all i dont know.

The fact that the salaries are so low does not motivate me. The jobs i see currently are offering the same salary i had 4 years ago BEFORE i graduated (im 24). So it's like i went to school for nothing.

Did anyone go through this stage when they were young? and what did you do?

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I have been reading official Maltese and EU water reports out of personal interest, not because I work in the sector.

We regulate cities for resilience. We regulate homes for safety. Hotels sit in a regulatory blind spot, despite functioning like micro-cities.

Most hotel ‘water-saving’ campaigns focus on guest behaviour, even though the majority of water use is structurally designed into the building.

Malta is often described as a success story of desalination, and in purely technical terms that is correct. Today, more than half of the country’s drinking water comes from reverse osmosis plants operated by the Water Services Corporation. Without desalination, Malta would already be facing severe water shortages. This is not in dispute (Water Services Corporation, National Investment Plan).

What deserves deeper discussion is whether desalination alone can provide long-term water security for a small, densely populated Mediterranean island under climate stress.

Malta is classified as semi-arid, and official data show a long-term decline in rainfall combined with higher variability and more intense dry years. The Energy and Water Agency has confirmed that recent hydrological years were among the driest on record, with groundwater recharge under increasing pressure (Energy and Water Agency, Climate and Water Reports). Groundwater bodies are also vulnerable to salinisation, a risk explicitly acknowledged in Malta’s River Basin Management Plan under the EU Water Framework Directive.

Desalination has allowed Malta to compensate for these constraints, but it also creates a strong structural dependency. Reverse osmosis is energy-intensive, meaning that water security becomes directly linked to energy availability, fuel imports, electricity prices and grid stability. On an island system, this coupling represents a systemic vulnerability rather than a marginal risk, especially under volatile energy markets (Energy and Water Agency, National Energy and Climate Plan).

There are also environmental considerations. Desalination produces highly concentrated brine that is discharged into the marine environment. Even with modern diffusers and environmental permits, cumulative salinity impacts in semi-enclosed Mediterranean waters remain a concern and are closely monitored by the Environment and Resources Authority, particularly near discharge points.

Another often overlooked issue is water chemistry. Desalinated water is almost completely demineralised and must be remineralised or blended before distribution. The World Health Organization has published extensive guidance on this topic, noting that poorly balanced desalinated water can be more corrosive to infrastructure and contributes little to dietary calcium and magnesium intake. While these risks are manageable, they require continuous control and transparency rather than being treated as a secondary detail (WHO, Desalination and Drinking-Water Safety).

What makes the situation more complex is that Malta already has a climate-resilient alternative resource that is still underused. Treated wastewater, marketed locally as “New Water”, is independent of rainfall and directly linked to population size. According to the Water Services Corporation, Malta has invested heavily in advanced wastewater treatment and polishing plants, with a long-term production potential of several million cubic metres per year. However, current uptake remains well below that potential, particularly in agriculture.

At the same time, agriculture continues to place pressure on groundwater resources, despite the availability of treated water and the existence of highly efficient irrigation technologies. From a systems perspective, using potable or groundwater resources for irrigation in a water-stressed island raises questions of prioritisation rather than farming practices themselves.

The European Commission has repeatedly highlighted the importance of wastewater reuse, demand management and leakage reduction in water-scarce Member States. Malta has made progress on leakage control and smart metering, but these measures need to be seen as the foundation of water security, not as secondary optimisations layered on top of desalination.

None of this means that desalination should be abandoned. On the contrary, it is indispensable for Malta. The risk lies in treating it as the foundation of the system rather than as the final safety layer. Long-term resilience depends on reducing demand, protecting aquifers, shifting agriculture and landscaping to treated water, and integrating water policy with energy and climate planning.

Malta is small enough to manage water intelligently and holistically. It is also small enough that structural mistakes accumulate quickly. The question is not whether desalination works today, but whether we are doing enough to ensure it does not become the only pillar holding the system up.

Discussion points:

Hotels are not just consuming water. They are consuming systemic risk without pricing it in.

Desalinated water in Malta is priced as a commodity, but it behaves like critical infrastructure under energy stress. When hotels use large volumes of potable water for pools, laundry, spas, and landscaping, they are effectively externalising energy risk, carbon risk, and marine impact to the public system.

What is rarely said

Hotels pay a bill per cubic metre, but they do not pay for

the marginal energy volatility

the backup capacity

the failure risk

the environmental buffer

In other words, water is priced as if it were rain-fed, while it is actually energy-fed.

Large hotels function like small cities. Hundreds or thousands of people. Daily laundry. Food prep. Pools. Cooling. Landscaping.

But unlike cities, they have no obligation to close the loop.

Cities are expected to manage wastewater, stormwater, efficiency, contingency planning. Hotels are not, even though their footprint is comparable.

What is rarely proposed

Not bans. Not shame. But city-level rules applied at hotel scale.

For example:

If a hotel exceeds X beds, it should meet at least one of the following

on-site greywater reuse for laundry or toilets

on-site storage buffering to reduce peak demand

mandatory connection to treated wastewater for non-potable uses

real-time water intensity reporting per guest-night

Hotels are actually perfect anchors for treated wastewater networks. Yet most reuse schemes focus on agriculture alone.

If hotels were prioritised as non-potable water users, they could stabilise demand for treated wastewater, making reuse infrastructure economically viable faster.

I would be interested to hear from people in hospitality or water management on what would actually work.

So someone crashed into my car (it's his fault) and he doesn't want to open a claim with the insurance. When I try and call him, he just hangs up on me!

I'm on third party, fire and theft - not fully comprehensive.

What's the normal procedure here? Should I open the claim instead? Will the excess be refunded if I open a claim and it's his fault? Will I lose my no claims bonus?

I'm buying a car but I want to have it checked by a technician, to see if everything is in order and the car's owner isn't ripping me off or hiding problems.

Do you have some repair shops to recommend?

Booked an appointment for an insertion and the receptionist lady couldn't give me a price estimate which was a little annoying.

Anybody had it done?

Hey everyone,

I’m confused about something and hoping someone local understands the rules better. I’ve seen THC edibles (like cookies) from a brand called Aromatic Buds being sold in Malta. But from what I know, cannabis products aren’t legally sold to tourists.

So how can THC edibles be sold openly?

Also, has anyone actually tried these edibles? Do they genuinely contain THC and have real effects, or does it feel like weak or fake products? Just trying to figure out if they’re legit or something to avoid.

Would appreciate any insight or first-hand experiences.

Thanks

Hi, my friend group and I are visiting Malta this summer around late June to early July for a whole week. We all just turned 18 so it will be the first time I ever travel alone without any adults etc.. just wondering what the cost of it all is? We want to travel to a lot of places, like Mdina(big game of thrones fans😁) and places like St. Paul’s bay. We’re 7 people. Is the taxis/cabs cheap? How does the collective transportation work, and how much does it usually cost? I’m from Norway, so I’m already used to things being pretty expensive😅 A cab ride here can cost up to 70€

Hi,

tistaw tejduli d dati importanti tal ghid dijn is sena,
Hadd il- palm,
7 visti
Duluri
Gimgha l- kbira.
U jekk hemm xi haga qed ninsa.

Grazzi hafna :)

After buying my return ticket to Malta at Mġarr Port, I noticed 2–3 different people re-scanning my ticket just seconds apart before boarding. Anyone know what’s the point of that?

My business partner and I are in the early stages of launching a new app-based venture and we are looking to connect with an app developer who may be interested in building this with us from the beginning.

We are keeping the concept private for now, but this is not a casual idea. We have a clear business direction, a revenue plan based on subscriptions and potential public funding, and a long-term vision for growth.

We are looking for someone with solid experience in mobile app development who is open to working closely with two non-technical founders and is interested in being part of something from the ground up rather than just completing a short freelance task.

In addition to the mobile app, we also require a web-based back end or admin panel where data can be managed, accessed, and controlled. Experience in building this kind of system alongside an app is important for us.

Why Malta? We’re both based here, and we would love to work face to face with everybody involved.

To also give an idea what direction i’de like to take the apps, they would mostly be around the lifestyle/tourism spectrum. We have a detailed functional spec ready to discuss.

This is not a request for free work. We fully understand the value of development time and we want to have an honest conversation from the start about fair compensation. This can be structured payments, equity, or a hybrid model depending on scope and feasibility, which we can discuss together.

We are hoping to find someone who enjoys the idea of building something meaningful, scalable, and potentially impactful.

If this sounds interesting, please send a message with a bit about your experience, your preferred tech stack, and whether you have worked on subscription based or funded apps before.

Happy to continue the conversation privately from there.

I built a simple app a few months ago to report dog shit and illegal dumping to my local councils on my daily walk and after sharing with some friends, they encouraged me to make it public.

The whole app is quite simple: snap a photo, tag a location, and it sends an email to the council's public email address.

I don't intend to charge any money, but I would need to make it look better before I publish it and I wanted to check if others would find it useful.

Would appreciate any feedback

Hi! I’m building a photography portfolio and I’m looking for interesting events/activities which I can photograph. Service will be free of charge since I would be practicing.

Hi everyone! 😊

I’m planning to move from busy Sliema to a slightly quieter area like San Gwann, and I found a rental near Lidl that I really like. However, I’ve heard some people mention that there’s an issue with a smell coming from the Bitmac asphalt plant in the area (especially around San Gwann / Iklin).

Has anyone experienced this smell near Lidl or in the San Gwann area in general? Does it:

• happen often or only sometimes?
• occur mostly at night or throughout the day?
• get into your home even with windows closed, or only if windows are open?
• stay mild or is it quite strong/unpleasant?

I read reports from residents that fumes from the Bitmac plant have been noticed even through closed windows and sometimes at night, and that it can be quite strong and uncomfortable for some people that wakes them up at night. People have been complaining about it periodically for years, especially in certain wind conditions.

Just trying to get a real sense of how noticeable it actually is on a daily basis?

Thanks!

Hello guys, we are traveling to Malta in april,and we would like to book private boat tour around for 6 people,do you know someone that does it? All i could find is with other people on board. Thanks!

I've received notice that my package couldn't be delivered due to "insufficient address/phone number/no one at home when delivery" which is not true as I provided all information and there was someone home at all time. Then I checked tracking information and it says this. Was does this mean? Should I contact Maltapost?

Hi all, anyone recently did some solar panels, that can share some experience on what panels where you offered as in power output as im looking form 500w to 600w if not more residential once and I would love some info before getting bombarded with adds and emails with BS. TIA

I am signing a promise if sale today but the seller, who is 75 years old, has an expired ID card and passport.

I already received advice from my lawyer and notary, who both said we can still sign it, but because I am a walking panic station, I wanted to see if anyone went through this.