Bermudian cuisine
Bermudian cuisine blends British and Portuguese cuisine with preparations of local seafood species, particularly wahoo and rockfish. Traditional dishes include codfish and potatoes served either with an add-on of hard-boiled egg and butter or olive oil sauce with a banana or in the Portuguese style with tomato-onion sauce, peas and rice. Hoppin' John, pawpaw casserole and fish chowder are also specialties of Bermuda. As most ingredients used in Bermuda's cuisine are imported, local dishes are offered with a global blend, with fish as the major ingredient, in any food eaten at any time.
Main dishes
There are several dishes served on Bermuda that are unique to the island which offer a taste of traditional Bermudian culture. Fish is one of the main ingredients in Bermudian cuisine. Local fish includes mahi mahi, snapper, spiny lobster, tuna, and wahoo. These are used in dishes such as fish and chips, panfried fish, and boiled salted codfish and potato, a traditional dish in Bermuda.Bermuda fish chowder is considered a national dish, which is a staple food not only in restaurants and hotels but also in homes; the main ingredients are fish stock, fish, vegetables and bacon fat. It is served with spices, as well as black rum and sherry peppers. Beef stock is an essential ingredient in Bermudian fish chowder. Sherry pepper is prepared with ripe and very hot bird peppers using sherry for marinating it, and supplemented with herbs and spices; and black rum is rum derived by blackening with molasses in a special barrel for aging.
The specialty in some restaurants during the weekend is a codfish brunch. It is a large serving of full blown codfish, boiled and steamed with salt, and with boiled potatoes, onions, and sliced bananas. The topping is a hard-boiled egg or tomato sauce, and occasionally avocado slices.
Appetizers served are shark hash and codfish cakes. Shark hash is minced shark meat, sautéed with spices, and served on toast. Codfish cake is made out of salted mashed cod, cooked potatoes and fresh thyme and parsley, formed into patties and pan-fried. It may be served with a topping of a "zesty fruit salsa and a side of mesclun salad" sandwiched in a white bun with mayonnaise.
Fruits and vegetables
Almost every type of vegetable can be grown in Bermuda. Growers provide cabbage, celery, cucumbers, French beans, green peas, carrots, parsnips, radishes, and turnips for local tables. Flax, capsicums and peppers are also locally grown and incorporated in local cuisine. English onions arrived in Bermuda around 1616 where they became known as Bermuda onions. Bermudians make use of the abundance of locally grown fruits in fruit salads, incorporating strawberries, loquats, grapefruit, watermelon, papaya, cassava, and Suriname cherries.For vegetarians, the choice is very limited to dishes prepared with fresh Bermuda carrots, onions, potatoes, and green beans but without any meat.