How Ingrid Zerafa Turned
a Passion for Organic Food
into a Mission
F
or Ingrid Zerafa, founder of The
Farmer's Deli, organic food was
never a business trend. It began
as a deeply personal awakening.
While spending weekends at her
former farmhouse in Gozo, Zerafa
used to have fresh vegetables willingly
delivered to her doorstep by nearby
farmers. Every Sunday evening after
the harvest, however, she noticed
something unusual: a blue substance
staining the road outside the fields.
"At first, I had no idea what it was," she
recalls.
Curious, she asked the farmers about
it. They explained that after harvesting
they sprayed pesticides on the fields
and could not return to them for a
week.
"They told me, 'We've just harvested.
Now we're putting the pesticide on and
then washing the machinery, and for
a week we can't touch the fields.' That
stayed with me forever."
The revelation prompted her to
A conversation with Ingrid Zerafa, founder of The Farmer's Deli, tracing her journey from
environmental awareness to organic food advocacy, and how she is reshaping food
culture in Malta through transparency and trust.
