The humble (but well-travelled) pastizz

It was a cold November morning back in 2011 when I visited Joe’s Pastizzi, a small shop on Dundas Street West in Toronto.

The area is home to most of the city’s Maltese businesses and is a hub for expats. St Paul the Apostle Church prides itself on being home to a Maltese-Canadian parish and Joe’s is one of a handful of shops in the area that make and stock Maltese food products.

Walking in felt like a time warp. The walls were covered with framed pictures of everything from Maltese football teams (their players no doubt retired by now) to the definitely retired yellow buses.

Net TV played in the background. A very old calendar displayed pictures of Sliema, Valletta and Bugibba before development transformed them so profoundly. The interior would not have looked out of place in a village teashop on the pjazza.

Mass let out and churchgoers huddled into the small shop and out of wet coats and hats. The crowd was mostly elderly, though a few grandchildren sat on knees here and there, picking at almond biscuits. Strains of Maltese rose above the chatter, with varying degrees of Canadian influence stretching the vowels all the way across the Atlantic.

My host was an expat herself, only a few years out of Malta. As she got to talking with her friends, one elderly gentleman turned to me and asked whether I was Maltese. I said I was. He asked which village I was born in. I told him. With that knowledge and the mention of a single surname, we discovered that his sister had worked with my grandmother, back when they were both teachers in the late 50s.

It is astounding that such connections remain traceable. Several years and several thousand kilometres separated this man and the homeland he remembers, but the reach of memory remains as strong as ever.

Joe’s was testament to that – the Malta these patrons remembered no longer exists. What they were experiencing was the country they took with them when they packed their bags all those years ago. The blaring television, sitting beside some sepia family photos taken on some zuntier or other, was testament to that. Why, then, was Joe’s packed with people that Sunday morning?

The microwave wouldn’t stop pinging; the staff was in overdrive. It seemed like everyone wanted a coffee and ‘wiehed irkotta, wiehed pizelli’. That post-mass ritual had survived over the years. We ordered two ourselves and tried them. The taste? Well it didn’t have that loud, crackling crunch but for a little pastry made a continent away from home, it wasn’t half bad.

You wouldn’t think pastizzi have this much power over a room full of chilly expats but it and other Maltese cuisine are exactly what gives this place and others like it their purpose.

Food is an intrinsic part of home – one without the other makes both incomplete. Food, unlike home, can be transported and enjoyed far away. Food, also unlike home, is made anew every day – the key to a safe, beloved series of memories right there in Toronto or Melbourne or London.

Joseph Pace, who owns Parparellu in Hammersmith, says that patrons often feel like they’re back home when they eat in his café. And that is something he and his staff encourage.

“Most of my staff are Maltese and we are proud to give our famous Maltese hospitality. I believe that the whole customer experience is important not just to offer great food,” he explains. “Also for our Maltese clients it is important that they can come to a place and speak our language.”

Laura’s Catering Service in Melbourne produces Maltese specialties that draw patrons from all over. “We find that we have clients driving hours to purchase our food, some as far as interstate Queensland and Adelaide,” says the head chef.

“95% of our retail clientele are Maltese, mainly the older generation, and 90% of our catering clientele are European, with the majority being Maltese.”

Here, far away from the constraints of tradition, new and unusual interpretations of pastizzi are sold alongside the two traditional types, including curious combinations like apple and blueberry, and pizza flavor.

Finding ingredients does not pose a problem. “Getting our hands on imported Maltese ingredients is not difficult in Melbourne but some Maltese herbs are hard to find as the seeds are not common. Traditional food is hard to make because you have to keep it as authentic and traditional as possible.”

Parparellu on the other hand, ships the pastizzi in directly from Malta. “I wanted them to be completely authentic. Whether it is the taste, shape and texture,” Pace explains. Other foods like ross il-forn and rabbit are cooked fresh. A cosmopolitan city such as London makes even the most obscure ingredients available.

Whatever the process involved, pastizzi remain top sellers for both Laura’s Catering Service and Parparellu. And because eating is inherently social, places like and Joe’s in Toronto become a focal point for communal reminiscence, the maintenance of a shared language – including some dialects, preserved in pristine condition through years of linguistic isolation – and the reinforcement of a bond that has already weathered many years of unique challenges.

Pastizzi in particular are the perfect ambassadors. Small, portable, freezable and simple to make, these much-loved snacks remain a favourite with expats and a delicious curiosity for those who might never have even heard of the place the Maltese call home.

And what could be more Maltese than sharing a chat and a coffee with friends over a heap of fresh pastizzi?

PASTIZZI ALL AROUND THE WORLD

North America
Joe’s Pastizzi Plus, Toronto
Malta Bake Shop, Toronto
Michigan Italia Bakery, Michigan
Malta’s Finest Pastries, Toronto

Britain
Parparellu, London
Mediterranean Delights, Peterborough
Mama Malta Pastizzeria, Aberdeenshire
Rococo Restaurant, Surrey
Mediterranean Pastry, online
Maltese Cross Food Store, online

Australia
Laura’s Catering Service, Melbourne
Bite Size Delights, Sydney
Anthony’s Pastizzi, Melbourne
Pepe’s Pastizzi Products, Sydney
The Original Maltese Café, NSW
Cafe Valletta, New South Wales
Falzon & Sons, Victoria
Neriku Pasta Traditional Handmade Maltese Food, NSW
Pastizzi Café, NSW