Bermudian cuisine facts for kids

Bermudian cuisine is a tasty mix of different cultures! It blends flavors from British and Portuguese cooking with amazing local seafood. You'll find lots of dishes made with fish like wahoo and rockfish.

Some traditional meals include codfish and potatoes. These are often served with a hard-boiled egg and a butter or olive oil sauce, sometimes with a banana. Or, they might be made in the Portuguese style with a tomato-onion sauce, peas, and rice. Other special Bermudian foods are Hoppin' John, pawpaw casserole, and fish chowder. Since many ingredients come from other countries, Bermudian dishes often have a global twist, but fish is almost always the star!

Main Dishes of Bermuda

Bermuda Fish Chowder, a famous Bermudian dish.

Bermuda has many unique dishes that show off its traditional culture. Fish is a super important ingredient here! Some local fish you might find include mahi mahi, snapper, spiny lobster (available from September to March), tuna, and wahoo. These are used in popular meals like fish and chips, panfried fish, and the traditional boiled salted codfish and potato. This codfish and potato dish is usually eaten on Sundays with tomato sauce and olive oil.

The Bermuda fish chowder is considered the national dish! It's a favorite in restaurants, hotels, and homes. The main ingredients are fish stock, fish, vegetables, and bacon fat. It's often served with special spices, plus a splash of black rum and sherry peppers. Beef stock is also a key part of this chowder. Sherry pepper is made by soaking hot bird peppers in sherry wine with herbs and spices. Black rum gets its dark color and flavor from molasses as it ages in barrels.

A delicious codfish brunch.

On weekends, some restaurants offer a special codfish brunch. It's a big meal with boiled and steamed salted cod, served with boiled potatoes, onions, and sliced bananas. It's often topped with hard-boiled egg or tomato sauce, and sometimes even avocado slices.

For appetizers, you might try shark hash or codfish cakes. Shark hash is minced shark meat cooked with spices and served on toast. Codfish cakes are made from mashed salted cod mixed with cooked potatoes, fresh thyme, and parsley. This mixture is shaped into patties and fried. They are sometimes served in a white bun with mayonnaise and a "zesty fruit salsa" and a side of mesclun salad.

Fruits and Vegetables Grown in Bermuda

Bermuda's soil is great for growing almost every type of vegetable! Local farmers provide fresh cabbage, celery, cucumbers, French beans, green peas, carrots, parsnips, radishes, and turnips. You'll also find locally grown Flax, capsicums (bell peppers), and other peppers used in Bermudian cooking.

Did you know that English onions arrived in Bermuda around 1616? They became so famous that they are now known as Bermuda Onions! Bermudians also use lots of local fruits in their fruit salads. These can include sweet strawberries, loquats, grapefruit, watermelon, papaya, cassava, and Suriname cherries.

If you're a vegetarian, you'll find dishes made with fresh Bermuda carrots, onions, potatoes, and green beans. These are prepared without any meat.

Breads and Sweet Desserts

Corn bread, which first came from Mexico, and sweet Easter bread, from the British West Indies, are popular in Bermudian meals. Bananas are used in many ways! They can be made into banana crumble and other desserts, fried as fritters, or even flamed in rum for a special treat. Banana desserts are also baked with rum and brown sugar.

Another common dessert is jelly-roll or sponge cake. It's served with peaches or strawberries, bananas, custard, chopped nuts, and whipped cream, all soaked in sherry wine. A very famous Bermudian dessert is Fresco's chocolate mousse cake. It's served warm from the oven with roasted almonds, toffee, marshmallow ice cream, and pistachio cream.

Holidays and Food Festivals

Bermuda banana cakes are a popular treat.

Sweet potato pudding is a favorite, especially on Guy Fawkes Night. It's made with cinnamon, cloves, and lemon or orange juice. On Good Friday, people traditionally eat hot cross buns with codfish cakes.

Dating back to 1612, cassava pie is a special dish for Christmas dinner. It used to combine chicken or pork with eggs, brandy, and sweet pastry. Today, it's often served as a side dish in restaurants any day of the year. Every Bermudian family has their own recipe, but cassava pie always includes grated cassava, butter, eggs, salt, and sugar. While beef and pork were once common in the filling, chicken is now usually the main meat.

Mussel pie is another popular dish. It's made with shelled mussels, potatoes, and onions, baked and seasoned with thyme, parsley, and curry. Bermuda also hosts a Culinary Arts Festival in November. This festival features famous chefs, cooking demonstrations, and delicious food tastings!