Eat This Podcast: Malta Besieged
Hello
Malta, just off the coast of Sicily in the middle of the Mediterranean, has always been of enormous strategic importance. As a result it has been claimed, and fought over, by empire after empire. Each time it was vulnerable to a blockade of essential food supplies because the tiny island -- Malta is only 27 kilometres long -- cannot possibly feed itself. Despite this history, going into World War II neither the British colonial government nor the Maltese people were prepared for the inevitable blockade. When rationing was imposed, however, the authorities deliberately turned a blind eye to those who were finding ways to evade the restrictions of the black market.
Maltese historian Noel Buttigieg told me why it made sense to do so.
Take care
PS It has been a week. This email was supposed to have gone out last Monday but something went wrong. No matter, it allows me to add a photograph of a map of the Great Siege of Malta painted between 1565 and 1569 on the wall of the Sala della Guardia at the Palazzo Farnese in Caprarola, which I snapped two days ago.