Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/576901
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 27 SEPTEMBER 2015 44 This Week L-Ikla t-Tajba – a fusion of food and fun at Notte Bianca The second edition of the Valletta 2018 project l-Ikla t-Tajba will be offering the public a taste of origi- nal street food inspired by local sta- ple dishes at Notte Bianca, for the second consecutive year. L-Ikla t-Tajba is once again led by London-based chef David Dar- manin who is this year coaching a group of young aspiring cooks in the Maltese culinary tradition and more. The participants were asked to create their own original recipes using local, fresh Maltese ingre- dients with the view of eventually preparing and serving these dishes during the 2015 edition of Notte Bianca on October 3. Participants, coming from the inclusive education programme Youth Inc. run by Aġenzija Żgħażagħ, are divided into teams putting together a varied and crea- tive menu full of tasty food which fuses different cuisines and local ingredients. Valletta 2018 Chairman Jason Micallef said: "l-Ikla t-Tajba is an investment in the future of these young people who have acquired new skills which will benefit them in daily life. The project also cel- ebrates fresh food prepared on the basis of original recipes and quality, local produce". David Darmanin said that once again this was a successful multi- faceted experiment. "This experi- ence will remain with them and will hopefully serve as an inspira- tion for the future because food not only brings people together, it also inspires them," he said. London-based chef Nicole Pisani will this year form part of the group of foreign guest chefs including Lu- ca Bevere, Maria Paola Bruni and Thomas Fletcher, who will be head- ing the four young teams at l-Ikla t- Tajba during at Notte Bianca. The young cooks have come up with a menu featuring some curi- ous surprises like the fusion cuisine of the Vietnamese spring rolls with local red prawns or the Ftizza – a pizza using traditional ftira dough and stuffed with rosemary, arti- san Maltese sausage, local tomato sauce, caramalised onion and fresh ġbejna. Darmanin had quite a challenge this year instructing a group of young people into the appreciation of the basics of food preparation as well as an awareness of the local cu- linary arts while encouraging them to use creativity to spice up tradi- tional food. The sea around our coast is home to many species of crabs. Now crabs are perhaps not the most charismatic of animals but there's a group of them with a rather endearing habit (well maybe to naturalist eyes). As everyone knows, crabs generally come with a standard-issue hard exoskeleton that protects them from damage and from most predators. But not hermit crabs: these guys seem to run out of armour plating halfway along their body, so their back end is rather soft and vulnerable. Hermit crabs solved this problem by reversing into vacated snail shells (hence Granc tal-Bebbuxu in Maltese) which they then carry around wherever they go. A nifty solution, with one drawback: while the hermit crab grows in size, its adopted shell doesn't. So lodgings eventually get too cramped, and the crab must find a bigger shell in which to transfer its assets. Incidentally, unlike regular crabs, who often scuttle sideways, hermit crabs walk – or rather lumber – forward. 473. HERMIT CRAB GREEN IDEA OF THE WEEK 376: TURN OFF COMPUTERS AT NIGHT – By turning off your computer instead of leaving it in sleep mode, you can save 40 watt-hours per day. If you don't want to wait for your computer to start up, set it to turn on automatically a few minutes before you get to work, or boot up while you're pouring your morning tea. Visit Friends of the Earth's website for more information about our work, as well as for information about how to join us. You can also support us by sending us a donation - www.foemalta.org/donate Text and photo Victor Falzon Last year's edition of L-Ikla t-Tajba, at Notte Bianca 2014 On the menu is Ftizza – a pizza using ftira dough and stuffed with rosemary, Maltese sausage, tomato sauce, caramalised onion and fresh gbejna