Traditional Bites: County Game Dining

It’s Cup Match time in Bermuda and while the fever has taken a hold of the island, we can’t forget about the prelude to Cup Match…Eastern County Cricket - conventionally known simply as ‘County Game’.  As much as Bermuda's favourite two day holiday (Cup Match) is steeped with annual rituals by the frenzied fans, this tournament played between the four eastern counties, carries a rich set of traditions that run almost as deep.

What do you need to know about, if you don't know already?

• Three Games are played between four teams  Cleveland County (2014 Champions), The ‘Mighty’ Flatt’s Victoria, Bailey’s Bay and St David’s Cricket Clubs

• It's unwritten but true that the most intense rivalry that exists between Bailey’s Bay and St David’s Cricket Clubs.  
  
• Tradition will see 3 generations of each family set up in chairs under pop-up tents lining the field, with a picnic lunch and a cooler-full, set in place from the early hours of the morning and fully prepared for the long day of cricket ahead. 
  
• The institution known as Crown and Anchor, where the crowd never dwindles as many a gambler witnesses NONE of the game due to spending the day working on their retirement plans at the tables. 
  
• The custom of the all day fashion show where it’s almost a part of the game to see and be seen in your second-best outfits (the best are saved for Cup Match…of course) 
  
• ...and then our preferred tradition…the food.

County Game is essentially a seafood lover’s paradise.  It’s something that makes one wonder “where is this food all year ‘round and why is it that it can only be experienced in a large scale at the County Game?” For our fellow food loving friends, cricket fans (and the rest of the people that just go to the game because it is the place to be), no trip to the game is complete without sampling just one of their favourites…whether that be the conch fritters, fish and chips, fried shrimp, scallops, shark hash, marinated mussels or conch stew (just to name a few).

Fried Shrimp with the perfect blend of herbs and spices drizzled with hot sauce and served with tartar sauce.

Deep Fried Scallops. 9 to an order....1 Scallop was camera shy

Temporary kitchens are creating these traditional delights all through the day and the whispers and murmurs of ‘who-has-the-best-X’ spread like wildfire through the crowd.  

• ‘St David’s Seafood’ has the best….
• You have to get the …… from ‘Sid’s’ 
• Did you taste that … over at ‘Secret Recipe’

Even people who aren’t a part of all of the foodie-ness are in the know, with quips like “Well I heard the shrimps over at that stand by the water are the BEST!”

The food is such a big part of the day that it isn’t beyond the realm of possibility to come across people who have no idea about what the score is or who is at bat…but they can definitely tell you where the best conch stew is and how much they’re selling it for.

There must something about the combination of the atmosphere of the seaside setting, the friends encountered at the game (who readily greet you with “want a piece of fish?”…”need something cold?”), and just the energy period, that makes the food taste that much better.  Seriously…this just doesn’t seem like any-old take out.  There's something really special about it.

Essentially it’s something you need to experience for yourself.  There are three Eastern County games each summer to name a champion out of the four teams.  The first was held two weeks before Cup Match (July 18th) then the two subsequent fortnights after Cup Match at the St. David’s Cricket Club field  (this year, August 15th and Aug 29th).

And for the record, those games will be for sampling the rest of the menu items we didn’t get through on the first round. 

Did you make it to the game?  And if you did, what did you eat?  What are some of your favourite Summer ‘event’ foods?  Let us know in the comments below.  We’d love to hear from you.