The Olive Trail

" The food we eat is the tangible evidence of a people’s culture – it’s the story of that culture."

• Sam Cremona, Wardija

Address: 'Wild Roses', Triq il-Madonna tal-Abbandunati, Wardija, Malta
Tel: 356 7958 2294
Email: matty@vol.net.mt

Maltese olive oil revivalist Sam Cremona

There are many reasons to visit the Islands besides a quest for Malta’s new heritage wines. There’s the rich history, excellent scuba diving, sailing, hiking, and nightclubbing which all draw tourists.

Sure, but how about tracing back the ancient roots of the Island's olive groves, another piece of the jigsaw puzzle that makes up Malta’s Mediterranean identity.
Looking at the landscape today, it's hard to believe that olive trees once covered Malta. Indeed, many village and town names on both Malta and Gozo translate as 'Well of Olives', 'Hill of the Presses' or simply 'Olives' but most of the trees were uprooted and this deforestation cost the islands dear.
Olive fanatic Sammy Cremona is trying to reverse the damage and make Malta once again an island of the olive.
The ideal time to meet up with him to learn all about his project is at the time of pressing in September at his farm in Wardija, limits of St. Paul's Bay. The grounds also house an authentic stone oven and eating establishment serving Maltese food. The establishment is quite unique in the Maltese Islands.

So why not call Sam to clamber together with him over Phoenician tombs of sailors from Tyre, Sidon and, later, Carthage, who never returned to their homelands and lay forgotten beneath wild evergreen carob trees, to stride through sweet smelling garrigue - an undergrowth of wild thyme and lavender - to visit olive groves of twisted, sinewy olive trees which have been scientifically dated at around 1,800 years old: Roman trees, then.
A new olive-oil industry could be blossoming here.#

For the books: 'Cooking with Maltese Olive Oil' is recommended reading. It comes to life when you get a chance to meet its author, food writer: Matty Cremona, Sam's wife, at the olive farm in Wardija. Another good but more general read is Carol Drinkwater's book 'The Olive Route', published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson.#