Kinsey Gidick
January 29, 2025
Hamilton’s pastel-hued buildings house some of Bermuda’s best restaurants.Getty Images
Across the island, the best Sundays start with a plate of codfish and potatoes.
Just before 6:30 on a Sunday morning, a quiet hum builds outside the Ex-Artillerymen’s Association building in Hamilton, Bermuda’s picturesque capital. Locals – dressed in everything from crisp church attire to their infamous shorts and sandals – line up and chat beside travelers. (The latter’s presence is usually evidence of a tip shared by an in-the-know concierge at the Hamilton Princess or a helpful taxi driver.) The scent of salt cod and onions mingles with the salty breeze from the ocean down the street. The doors will be opening soon.
Everyone’s arrived for the same thing: codfish and potatoes, a beloved Bermudan breakfast dish prepared and served in low-key style by local culinary legend Kenny Rawlins. On a paper plate, mild white cod sits beneath boiled potatoes, a hard-boiled egg, and some sliced bananas – a sweet counterpart to the fish’s savory onion-butter sauce. Avocado, cornbread, a packet of Duke’s Mayo, and a scoop of tomato sauce round out the dish.
“People come just for the sauce,” Rawlins says, referring to his secret tomato concoction, a signature dressing that sets his codfish plate apart from the others found all across the island, from home kitchens to restaurants such as Divots Bar & Grill and Paraquet.
Kenny Rawlins and his famous Sunday-morning spread.Kenny Rawlins, Kinsey Gidick
To understand why an island of people living hundreds of miles from the nearest cod fisheries would develop such a deep affinity for preserved fish, look to the trans-Atlantic slave trade: In the eighteenth century, when sugarcane was a lucrative crop in the Caribbean, plantation owners imported cheap provisions such as salted cod to feed their enslaved laborers. (That salt, in fact, was harvested by enslaved people in the nearby Turks and Caicos Islands and shipped to North American cities.) Over the years, Bermudans have adapted the humble fish, turning what was once a modest meal into a meaningful Sunday tradition.
“I grew up in a foster home, and my foster parents taught me how to make codfish and potatoes,” says Rawlins, who owns the catering service Kenny’s Homestyle Bakery & Catering and is known across the island for his work as a civic leader and mentor. Every Bermudan family adds their own twist to the codfish – Rawlins’ foster parents served it with cornbread, while others prefer the sweeter, skillet-baked Johnny bread. Toppings also vary, from a traditional onion-butter sauce to a heaping spoonful of mayo, a nod to the island’s British influence. No matter the variation, the dish is synonymous with Sunday morning.
Rawlins has been hosting his codfish breakfasts since 2001. He and his grandson, Cristiano, prep about 130 pounds of codfish every week, a careful daylong process that involves soaking the fish three times, changing the water every four hours to remove the salt. Save for Christmas and Easter, his Sunday breakfast service takes place year-round. “We serve the real traditional flavors,” he says, “that a visitor might not get to try unless they seek them out.”
The early-morning wake-up call is worth it – and after a hearty plate of codfish and potatoes, a post-meal oceanside nap feels almost mandatory.
