Qormi bread festival... with no bread

On September 11 my wife and I went to Qormi for the bread festival held there every year. I must say that this year it was a complete disappointment for an event of this kind. I’m sure the entertainment part was positive; we saw some good local singers taking part. I would however like to make some comments on the foodstalls available on the second day of the festival when we attended.

First of all we had to buy the tokens beforehand and there was no price list clearly visible at the cash point. When we went to the foodstalls we realised that the prices were abnormally high for this type of event. The only food items on sale were either a wrap and a few chips for €5.50 or a Maltese platter for €6. That’s why a huge number of people opted to buy food from shops in the vicinity instead. We noticed there were very few people buying from the festival stalls, especially the one selling the Maltese platter and wondered why.

Having already bought the tokens we opted to try the Maltese platter. Surprisingly enough this so-called Maltese platter contained sliced ham instead of Maltese sausage and no bread: yes a Maltese platter without a Maltese loaf during a bread festival. When I asked for two loaves of Maltese bread the lady at the stall said she was waiting for the bread to be delivered to her. We waited for half an hour but eventually we had to eat the platter without any bread.

I appreciate the huge effort that a lot of people, especially young people, do to make this event a complete success. However it was still a huge disappointment this year considering that last year the event was much better organised and there was bread all over, though it was a pity the rain partly ruined that event. I don’t think we would consider it next year.