Fruit/Veg/Local Produce Markets

Not an overly important question in the grand scheme, but I was wondering what the food shopping culture was like in Malta. When I've been on holiday to some other places in the Med, I love to go to the outdoor food markets to buy fresh fruit and veg and spices etc at bargain prices. And when I come home to
the U.K., the produce aisles in Sainsburys seem so sterile in comparison. So what is available in Malta? I heard there is a Lidl that gets really busy, and also small local supermarkets, but do you have regular outdoor food markets that could be used to supplement your weekly shop?  Also are there many bakeries and fishmongers etc or is shopping mostly done at the supermarkets?

Many thanks

Mel

Most areas have a mobile greengrocer who sells local produce as well as other necessities such as bread and milk. (on board fridge powered by inverter). Ours comes round 3 times a week to the door and a lot of the produce he picks from his own land that morning!
Most supermarkets on Gozo are rubbish for greengrocery which is why there are 3 permanent stalls in the main car park in Victoria! (Lidl is best of the bunch)
We have a few individual bakers and 3 fishmongers on the island but we are on Gozo and I am sure there are many more on Malta.


Ray.

Hi Mellieh

We're hoping to get along to the Farmers Market at Ta'Qali soon, will report back if we do.

https://agriculture.gov.mt/en/agric/Pag … arket.aspx

Has anyone else been to it?

So far we've seen fruit and veg carts all over the place for day to day greengrocery and everything we've tried tastes so much better than what you get in the UK, especially the tomatoes!

I like the market in Ta qali  but prefer going to the sellers in Mgarr and Zebbiegh.  Find the prices are displayed better here as well. A lot depends on where you are.

Ta Qali market is fantastic! (haven't been to Mgarr/Zebbiegh), great choice, ALL LOCAL (they cannot sell foreign stuff, that's why if you want bananas/apples/... you have to go  down to the vans a bit further up), super fresh and super cheap. It's every Tuesday and Saturday (bigger on Saturday), from the morning till noon/2 pm-ish.

Now since we live further away, we usually go to our local van man. A bit more expensive than Ta Qali but still cheaper than supermarkets. The stuff he sells doesn't look as good as the supermarket stuff, but tastes much better.

Supermarkets, when they have fresh fruit/veg, tends to be overpriced, imported and often not so good (i find).

Try to find a nice, friendly van in your area, probably the best option. (Although the one in Attard on the Scotts parking lot, for instance, was not cheap and not friendly.)

nilonilonilo wrote:

Try to find a nice, friendly van in your area, probably the best option. (Although the one in Attard on the Scotts parking lot, for instance, was not cheap and not friendly.)


Yea you really have to shop around to find the honest sellers.

It's great to know good produce can be found... It sounds a bit sad, but I actually really enjoy shopping for fruit and veg, and it makes it seem more wholesome somehow if you are buying misshapen specimens from a market or a stall. :)

Mellieh wrote:

It's great to know good produce can be found... It sounds a bit sad, but I actually really enjoy shopping for fruit and veg, and it makes it seem more wholesome somehow if you are buying misshapen specimens from a market or a stall. :)


Yea we eat bags of fruit and veg every day. Fresh produce is always so much nicer. Winters are hard though as there's usually not that much on offer. :)