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The first Mediterranean Vegetarian Festival took place between the first and the forth of October 1999 on the beautiful, sunny island of Malta, south of Sicily.
 Farewell Party |
Situated right on the beach sporting wonderful views, the "Suncrest", one of the largest hotels in Malta, was the venue for the gathering.
The lectures covered several subjects and were held only in the mornings, to give the participants the possibility of visiting Malta and the nearby smaller island of Gozo.
Nearly 50 participants from about a dozen countries and three continents came together to enjoy a very interesting programme, the overwhelming hospitality of the vegetarian organizers, the surroundings of the lovely islands and the excellent cuisine of French chef Jean Claude Juston. For the participants it was not always easy to find the right dining area as this was changed often between the different restaurants in the hotel. This of course had its positive side, as other hotel guests had the opportunity to enjoy the taste of the delicacies that Jean Claude prepared.
 The organising comitte of the Maltesian Vegetarian Society |
The organisers where a little disappointed at the lack of Maltese attending.
Unfortunately I missed the inauguration ceremony as my plane arrived late in the evening. Instead I had an interesting conversation with the young taxi driver who took me to the venue. He was very worried because his nutritionist had advised his wife to avoid feeding their baby cow"s milk. He was glad to hear that one of my three children had not only grown vegetarian (1,95 m) in the third generation but also without any cow"s milk and that we never had to call for the doctor.
The press coverage was good both before and after the Festival. As a result the Vegetarian Society of Malta were even given a series of 13 weekly TV chat shows. Various personalities and vegetarian activists spoke about all aspects of vegetarianism with positive feedback from the public.
 Excursion to Gozo |
Lovely Malta
Malta enjoys a typically-pleasant Mediterranean climate which bodes well for the harvest of various fruits and vegetables that simply thrive on warmth and sun. On the other hand there is the problem of dryness during the long summer. Nowadays with irrigation, much of this problem has been overcome. Another difficulty is the minuteness of the island"s land spread and the small size of the fields which makes farming somewhat restricted.
Those, like myself, who know southern Italy, felt at once at home. The architecture, landscape, culture and way of life reminds one very much of the neighbouring country. Italian is together with English, widely spoken and I had no difficulty in communicating with the friendly Maltese people on my extensive bicycle tours around the small island. I still found delicious prickly pears along the road, which became my favourite fruit in the meantime. On various bicycle tours throughout the island I didn"t see a single factory farm or herd of farm animals. This made me think that most of the meat is imported. On the contrary I met many street vendors who sold their vegetable and fruit products (dried figs, prickly pears, plums, tangerines, mandarins, salads, artichokes, green peppers, carrots, garden beets), everywhere along the road or on street corners in the villages, for a low price.
 Dr. Micallef explaining his beautiful garden |
Open doors in Gozo
Our visit to the neighbouring island of Gozo was one of the highlights of the week. Can you imagine a place where most of the house owners leave the keys in the front door? Well this seem to be the case in Gozo. Guests who may arrive whilst the owner is absent, are free to enter the house. The crime rate among the 37 thousand inhabitants is very low. So we were told.
The Festival organisers went to a lot of trouble to make our stay a very pleasant one. In a unique position overlooking a large part of Gozo, in a rented villa the vegi tourists were served excellent meals prepared by the organisers themselves. The great choice of raw food was especially welcome on the warm summer day.
Some of us spent an interesting afternoon at the villa of Dr. Micallef. He was one of the invited lecturers and former environment minister of Malta. On his property we saw evidence of the great archaeological and historical past: A three thousand year old Phoenician tomb had been found in his garden during the construction of his villa.
I had missed the inaugurating ceremony but had the pleasure to assist the farewell party, which underlined the spirit of the whole gathering: a friendly, harmonious atmosphere and content participants. Jean Claude Juston made a special effort to satisfy the guests, with an abounding buffet during an evening of poems, songs and instrumental music.
All in all it was a well organised pleasant event. The seeds of the vegetarian way of life have been sown, which will surely bear fruit in a country where the inhabitants in the past lived mainly on field products.
Sigrid De Leo
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