Famously Popular Bermuda Foods & Recipes To Try On Vacation

In visiting Bermuda, an island paradise surrounded by water, it may come as little surprise that fish (including; tuna, wahoo, mahi mahi, rockfish, and lobster) play a major role in the Bermudian diet. However, thanks to its varied colonial past, cuisine in Bermuda is influenced by a unique blend of Caribbean, British, West African, and Portuguese cooking styles.

Take, for instance, cod and potatoes, a Sunday morning breakfast staple that tips its hat to classic Portuguese flavors. Featuring steamed salt cod and boiled potatoes, the locals add a Caribbean twist via the addition of sliced bananas, avocado and onions. Onions are actually so ingrained into the core of Bermudian life that the islands were known as the Onion Patch, thanks also to the early success of sweet Bermudian onions in markets around the world.

If you're looking for a prime venue to indulge in this iconic breakfast, look no further than Paraquet Cafe near Elbow Beach, a restaurant that garnered the "Best of Bermuda" award for this very dish. Once you're fully satiated, you can walk it off on one of the many hiking trails on the island, squeeze in a few holes of golf or, for the less actively inclined, soak in a few rays on the splendid beaches.

Once home, you can give your tastebuds a reminder of your great vacation by cooking up the very same recipe, soaking the boneless salted cod overnight and then boiling it with potatoes. Finish by adding some fried onions and stewed tomatoes.

If you're looking for a great dessert to finish your meal, there's no shortage of options. From anything and everything to do with locally-grown bananas (fritters and ice cream, anyone?) to the syllabub, a creamy, layered British dessert hailing from five centuries ago, a sweet ending is never far away.

For those looking for the ultimate classic, the champion would have to be the Bermudian rum cake. It's spongy and boozily moist, thanks to a healthy soaking of local rum. Though its origins are a bit murky, it's thought to have evolved from sailors dunking their biscuits into cups of rum in order to soften them (and no doubt add some flavor).

Rum cake shops abound, and with the closing of much-loved Horton's, a new favorite is the cakes baked up by the Bermuda Rum Cake Company. A number of flavors are available, including swizzle (zesty apricot, cherry, lemon and pineapple), chocolate and traditional. They're made to take home (if you can hold off eating them till you get there), but if you get hit by another craving once you're away from the island, you'll be happy to know that they do ship their cakes across the globe.