Farmer's Deli Featured in MaltaToday's New Organic Food Guide
- 11 hours ago
- 2 min read
This July, MaltaToday launched the first edition of The Organic Food Guide – a new publication dedicated to organic and local food in Malta. Our founder, Ingrid Zerafa, was invited to talk about how Farmer's Deli came to be, starting with something she noticed on a country road in Gozo, long before the shop existed.
A stained road, and a question that stuck
Years ago, while spending weekends at her former farmhouse in Gozo, Ingrid noticed a blue substance staining the road near a nearby field after harvest. When she asked, the farmers explained they'd just sprayed pesticide and couldn't return to the field themselves for a week.
"That stayed with me forever," she says.
With a background in journalism, and prior experience at Malta's Environment Ministry, Ingrid already understood environmental policy – but she wanted answers about food itself: how it was grown, what was in it, and who was accountable for it.
Building something meaningful
When Ingrid met her partner Franco, who'd moved to Malta from Sicily, the two saw a chance to build something together. Franco's contacts among Sicily's certified organic farming cooperatives gave them a working model; Ingrid focused on translating that world for Maltese customers.
"At first, my job wasn't really business," she recalls. "I translated the website, my partner handled the logistics, and I focused on information."
Farmer's Deli grew from there into something closer to what Ingrid calls "people's personal shoppers" – sourcing for households, five-star hotels and yachts alike, and building relationships with Malta's small community of certified organic farmers.
Trust that doesn't stop at the till
For Ingrid, certification is only part of the picture. She's just as interested in traceability and traditional production methods – from ancient grain flours to minimally processed ingredients.
"Our flour is exclusively ancient grain," she explains. "Organic is important, but we also look at the seed itself."
Asked about the higher price of organic food, her answer turns the question around:
"Instead of asking why organic is expensive, ask why conventional food has been made so cheap in the first place."
Read the full feature
You can read Ingrid's full interview in The Organic Food Guide, First Edition, July 2026, published by MaltaToday.
And if her story has you curious to see – and taste – what she's built, come visit us at 5, Triq Felic Borg, San Gwann, or browse the shop online.
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