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Papua New GuineaFlavors · Bermuda
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.
Traditional dish from Bermuda
Also known as: Bermuda fish cakes, fishcakes, codfish cakes and hot cross buns
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
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Codfish cakes — Bermuda
Codfish cakes are fritters made from salted cod mixed with mashed potato, onion, parsley, thyme and other seasonings. The mixture is shaped into flat rounds, dredged in flour and fried until golden and crispy on the outside. They’re served as a snack, a side dish or a quick meal, often inside a roll.
The day for codfish cakes is Good Friday. On that day Bermudians eat the fritters inside hot cross buns, sweet spiced rolls marked with an icing cross. The salty-and-sweet combination is part of the tradition. The custom of eating fish on Good Friday comes from Lent and the practice of abstaining from meat on Fridays.
The day is also kite day. Entire families head to hills, parks and beaches to fly colorful kites made of tissue paper and wooden spars, many built at home in the days before, and bring the fritters and rolls to eat outdoors. The hot cross buns are an English inheritance; the codfish cake filling is the Bermudian touch.
Many families make the fritters with cod and potatoes left over from Sunday breakfast. Each family claims to have the best recipe, and some people order the fritters and buns from bakeries in the week before Easter. Outside that period, codfish cakes appear on the islands’ menus year-round.
Bermuda
Good Friday food across Bermuda, with hot cross buns and kite flying.
Salted cod, potato, onion, parsley, thyme, egg and seasonings; flour for coating. On Good Friday, hot cross buns — sweet spiced rolls with raisins and an icing cross.
Fried and hot, on their own or inside a roll; on Good Friday, inside a hot cross bun, often eaten outdoors.
Good Friday and the week of Easter; on menus year-round.
Your questions
The custom comes from Lent and the Christian tradition of not eating meat on Fridays. On Good Friday, the codfish cakes are eaten inside hot cross buns while people fly kites.
A sweet spiced roll of English tradition, marked with an icing cross. In Bermuda on Good Friday it’s split open and filled with a codfish cake.
Yes. The fritters appear on the islands’ menus year-round, on their own or in a roll. The combination with hot cross buns is what’s typical of Good Friday.
Flavors of Bermuda
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.
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.
