Anyone who lived through the 90s in a Maltese village is familiar with the shout ‘Hawn tal-lampuki!’ emerging from a van driving along the streets, laden with freshly caught lampuki and other fish for sale.

A photo shared on the community page ‘St. Julian's Malta’, depicts perfectly the moment one would stop to buy some fresh fish from one of these vans, snapped by Alan Edwards in Balluta, between Sliema and St Julian’s.  

The photo gained a lot of traction in the past 24 hours, with commenters reminiscing on the simpler way of life that existed decades ago. Some even remembered the people in the photo, identifying two of the men by their names and nicknames – Pawlu ‘l-Iskartocc’ in the middle of the photo and ‘ic-Canga’ on the right, both of whom hailed from Gzira.

Most people do their fish shopping in supermarkets or designated fish shops nowadays, although the outdoor fish market in the fishing village of Marsaxlokk that takes place every Sunday remains quite popular. It starts early in the morning, with most of the fish being sold by 10 AM, so make sure to get there early if you’re interested!

Have you ever bought fish from a van like this one?