When Johan Tanti went to work yesterday morning he was told the pastizzi empire he built over the past two decades might collapse as Brussels was objecting to the “calorie explosion”.
“One of my exporters called me in a panic and told me to have a look at the news: the EU wanted to ban pastizzi… I started to panic too. I thought to myself: they didn’t even ban cigarettes, are pastizzi bothering them,” said Mr Tanti, owner of the chain of Champ pastizzerija outlets.
“Anyway, I fell for the joke,” he laughed adding that friends then called him to reassure him that Times of Malta had played an April Fool’s joke.
In the fictitious story, timesofmalta.com reported that Malta’s traditional pastizz, made of lard-soaked pasty filled with ricotta or peas, would have to go for a major recipe overhaul or else face extinction as a result of tough EU legislation to cut down on obesity.
The story was inspired by the recent announcement, this time for real, that the Maltese ġbejna was saved from potential extinction by a new legal notice that protects it from EU restrictions on milk products.
The story quoted imaginary people in Brussels describing the cheese and pea cakes as a “calorie explosion”. It said pastizzi, and other food, like the Scottish haggis and a lard-based Spanish chorizo sausage, had to come in line with new EU health regulations by September or else be declared illegal.
The story racked up more than 70,000 hits by the afternoon.
I thought to myself: they didn’t even ban cigarettes, are pastizzi bothering them?
The buzz was aided by the fact that the European Parliament Office had a similar idea, announcing that the EP had voted to ban pastizzi by 2015. Its announcement, however, was given away by a line at the bottom which said the source was an April Fool’s joke. When timesofmalta.com owned up to its joke, it emerged that the story worked in favour of the industry. Much like happens before a fuel strike, people flocked to pastizzerijas to stock up on the greasy treat. Dolceria Micallef in Valletta reported it had not sold so many pastizzi in 20 years, stock running out by 11am. Crystal Palace, in Rabat, also sold more than usual although, Carmelo Galea said, he realised immediately it was a joke. Readers had mixed reactions. Some clearly fell for the joke, like the first reader who suggested Malta should fight Brussels like Italy had done with a real proposal to ban restaurants from serving olive oil in unmarked jugs.
The more health-conscious readers were disappointed it was a joke since promoting pastizzi was like promoting a “killer-culture”.
Others went along with the joke with one reader suggesting setting up an NGO, Fondazzjoni Insalvaw il-Pastizz (Save the Pastizz Foundation).
Someone even set up a Facebook page in aid of the “cause” named the Moviment Salva il-Pastizz (Movement Save the Pastizz).
“Let us stop the EU from exterminating our pastizzi… pastizzi unite the Maltese,” the page read.
And all that talk of pastizzi whet the appetite of the Times of Malta newsroom that indulged in the treat… well aware that pastizzi were always here to stay.