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Traditional food · Bermuda
The fish chowder with rum and sherry pepper sauce, the Sunday codfish and potatoes, the fish sandwich on raisin bread, the cassava pie at Christmas and the two island rum cocktails.
In the photo: Horseshoe Bay, Costa Sul
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
The cuisine
Bermuda cuisine blends English, African, Portuguese and Caribbean traditions on a small North Atlantic archipelago. Fish is central to the table: wahoo, snapper and grouper come from the waters around the islands, and salted cod, present since colonial times, became part of everyday and festive dishes. Dish names are used in English as Bermudians call them.
Fish chowder is considered the national dish: a fish soup with tomato, vegetables and seasonings that each person adjusts at the table with dark rum and a sherry-pickled pepper sauce. On Sundays many families have codfish and potatoes for breakfast — salted cod cooked with potatoes, banana, egg and avocado. The fish sandwich, fried fish served on raisin bread, appears at simple kiosks and restaurants across the island.
The calendar also has its own flavors. On Good Friday, while colorful kites fill the sky, Bermudians eat codfish cakes — cod and potato fritters — inside hot cross buns. At Christmas the cassava pie, a dense cassava tart filled with chicken or pork, shares the table with the turkey.
Two rum cocktails vie for the title of national drink. The Rum Swizzle mixes rum, fruit juices and bitters; according to official tourism sources, the version known today was first served in 1932 in Bailey's Bay. The Dark 'n Stormy, made with dark rum and ginger beer, is a registered trademark of the Gosling family, who have been blending rum on the islands for more than a century and a half.
7 flavors
The Bermudian Christmas pie: a dense dough made from grated cassava with butter, eggs, sugar and spices, baked slowly with a filling of chicken, pork or both. Sweet and savory at the same time, it is eaten hot or cold during the holidays.
The traditional Sunday breakfast in Bermuda: salted cod cooked, potatoes, onion, banana, a boiled egg and avocado on the same plate, with tomato sauce or melted butter with onion on top.
Codfish cakes made with mashed potato, onion and herbs, fried until golden. They are eaten year-round, and on Good Friday they’re served inside hot cross buns, the sweet spiced rolls marked with a cross, while kites fill the islands’ skies.
Dark rum poured over ginger beer with ice in a tall glass, garnished with a slice of lime. The rum floats on top as a dark cloud, which gives the drink its name. Called the national drink of Bermuda, it is a trademark of the Gosling family, who require their Black Seal rum in the recipe.
Fish soup with tomato, potato, onion, carrot, bell pepper and celery, seasoned and slowly cooked. It is considered Bermuda’s national dish, and at the table each person adds dark rum and sherry-pepper sauce.
Fried seasoned fish fillets with tartar sauce, served between raisin bread slices. If ordered “the works,” it comes with lettuce, tomato, grilled onion, cheese, hot sauce and coleslaw. Served across the island at kiosks and restaurants.
Cocktail of dark and gold rum with orange and pineapple juices, lime, falernum and bitters, shaken in a pitcher until foamy, coral in color.
Suggest a traditional dish, sweet or drink of Bermuda that is not here. We check the sources before adding it.
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Your questions
Fish chowder, a fish soup with tomato, vegetables and seasonings, is considered the national dish. At the table each person adds dark rum and sherry-pickled pepper sauce to taste.
Two rum cocktails are called the national drink: the Rum Swizzle, made with rum, fruit juices and bitters, and the Dark 'n Stormy, made with dark rum, ginger beer and lime.
On Good Friday they eat codfish cakes — cod and potato fritters — inside hot cross buns while flying kites. At Christmas they have cassava pie, a cassava tart filled with chicken, pork or both.
It is codfish and potatoes, served mainly on Sundays: salted cod cooked with potatoes, onion, banana, hard‑boiled egg and avocado, topped with tomato sauce or a butter-and-onion sauce.
