We now come to the articles of food which are uncommon.
and peculiar to Bermuda. They consist of three, namely,
cassava-pie, whale steak and shark. The first of these,
cassava-pie, is the standard Christmas day dish of the Islands.
The cassava itself is a root. This root is dug up, washed and
grated. It is then made to form the crust and main body of a
pie which contains as a filling chicken, pork and beef.
Again, whale steak is an article of which many of the people
of the Islands are fond. Whenever a young whale is caught
it is at once cut up and quickly sold in small pieces to waiting
purchasers. The flesh of the whale is not like that of other
fish, but rather has the appearance of beef. This similarity of
appearance is increased by frying, when it even tastes some
thing 'like beef-steak.
The last peculiar article which we have on our Berinuda
list is Shark. In preparing this dish only the smaller sharks
are• used. The fish is skinned, steaks are cut off and boiled.
When it is cooked the water which it was boiled in is drained
from it, and the flesh, which now easily breaks apart, is
pounded up fine. Bread crumbs, salt, parsley, thyme and
pepper are thoroughly mixed into it, and the dish is ready for
the table. This article is considered by the best Bermuda
families the proper thing and quite a delicacy.
"Four pounds of love we send to thee, to-day,
And only four;
Our Uncle Sam's Mail-bags —so'they say,
Can take no more.
But mail , bags, boxes, sacks of any kind
Are all too small;
And only hearts are large enough,
To hold it all.
So, take our love on the installment plan,
Dear friend of ours;
We send a part to-day, more when we can,
W. .H. W., 'O6.