My name is Emily. I was born and raised in America. I am not a traveller by any stretch. Generally speaking, I am not so much brave as I am bold. We moved from America to Malta earlier this year during the pandemic. This has been by far the bravest move I have ever made in my life, and I would do it again every day of the week. Malta has quickly become my home and ignited a love affair so deep that I will be able to write about the many beautiful reasons why for years to come.
It’s been an interesting and exciting adventure to navigate our new world having never visited Malta before arriving with my husband, children and four pets in tow. This was a tremendous leap of faith and an opportunity for my husband’s company that we could not refuse. All I knew about Malta were from the YouTube videos we would watch every night before we went to bed and my own little side research online.
I had my own reasons for wanting to take the leap and fly across the pond to Malta and that was to live in a GMO-free country. For my family and I, this was at the very top of my list for what I would change about our lives if I could. I know it sounds harsh, but I believe that GMO foods are basically the root of a whole lot of evil. They wreak havoc in the system, they have been linked to autoimmune diseases, cancer and increased sensory issues in children to name a few reasons for my disdain.{1}
They fall under the term ‘environmental toxins’. I wanted to live in a place where they were banned and Malta opened its arms to us and we jumped at it. Within the European Union, 19 out of 27 countries have chosen a partial or total ban on GMO foods. Malta has opted for a total ban on their cultivation. I would like to thank dear Malta for loving its people enough to keep them safe and healthy. {2}
I’ve dreamed of being near the Mediterranean, but before arriving, all I knew was that it was the healthiest diet in the world, according to the books that donned the bookshelves at the local bookstores. I couldn’t wait to arrive and dive into learning about this fabulous culture and approach to life. Whatever I made up in my head was nothing compared to the incredible life that Malta was about to offer us, with the food being at the top of that list.
Learning to grocery shop every couple of days has still been something to navigate. I’m not used to food spoiling so quickly and appreciating the pure form that the food maintains. Produce here is so natural, fragrant, and pure. It tastes so different than anything I’ve had before. It is bliss in food form. I have a lot to learn and a long way to go on how the locals do it.
I want to learn what they buy, what they use in their recipes, and how they get their children to eat more vegetables. Growing up, I didn’t learn how to prepare vegetables in very many ways and honestly, I don’t know very much about the many vegetables that are available to us on the Maltese Islands.
Purple and orange cauliflower have become staples in our Maltese home; just one of the few additions we’ve managed to incorporate with ease. I don’t think I ever saw those before back home! I want to learn everything I can living here as I try to create a Mediterranean lifestyle, which teaches my children far better kitchen skills than I ever had.
Coming from America, where Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) are sprayed on the plants that make our food, we had to buy something called organic or look for the butterfly logo on the seal that said ‘Non-GMO Verified’. I bought every non-GMO verified package I could get my hands on and stuck to only organic produce in my home, but it was costing me a fortune. Organic meant that the foods were not sprayed with the toxic pesticides and herbicides and one chemical in particular that I despise, glyphosate. {3}
At the grocery stores in the states, you had two sets of all produce; the ones which were sprayed but much less expensive, or the organic produce, which costs three times the amount and you couldn’t be guaranteed the foods were in fact organic, because the sprays still traveled through the wind and into the organic fields. To be clear this means that Malta has a total ban on the cultivation of GMO’s in this country. However, this does not apply to imported foods from other countries being brought in. It is still important to read labels. {4)
I was ready to pack it up and bring my family across the sea for those reasons alone!
Once we arrived, we found that the beauty of Malta is beyond anything I could have imagined. And the people? We can save that for another article but let me just say, God bless every one of these incredible humans. The kindness, the love, the family-first mentality, I have moved to Heaven on Earth.
My love for Malta grows with each incredibly blessed day. I am so thankful that we were given the opportunity to move here and make Malta our home.
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