A chef turned his holiday cruise into a lesson on Bermudian cuisine when he was invited to team up with the on-board catering team.

Fred Ming, a veteran chef and former Bermuda College lecturer, entertained passengers on board the Oceania Cruises’ Nautica with cooking demonstrations and lessons on island cuisine.

The 74-year-old and the ship’s chefs gave three demonstrations in which they prepared recipes from his original cookbooks as meals for passengers.

Mr Ming said: “Most people were very receptive to the recipes. They wanted to know how to get a copy of my cookbook and now I have so many names and addresses of people who want a copy.”

He added: “People particularly enjoyed the codfish creole with pancakes, just because it was something unique.”

Mr Ming booked the month-long cruise around the Indian Ocean as a way to spend his Christmas holiday.

He said: “I went to a travel agency in Bermuda to pick up some papers for the cruise, and someone said ‘Mr Ming, we have the culinary director of the cruise ship in the office and I’d like you to meet him’.

“I gave him one of my cookbooks that I had in my car and when he recognised me, he said ‘oh, you’re a famous chef’.”

“When I got on board the ship they gave me all of these perks and lined me up with the chefs for the demonstrations.”

Mr Ming said he taught the chefs about Bermudian cuisine by explaining Bermudian history and how it affected the local food.

Many of the ship’s chefs also bought copies of his cookbooks.

He said: “The chefs were delighted to be a part of the team. They were very receptive and open-minded.”

Mr Ming added that demonstrations were an important way to showcase the unique Bermudian culture.

He said: “I think it’s good to let people know what we have because some folks feel that we hardly have anything.

“I think that we still get associated with the Caribbean ... I wanted to show them some of the unique things that we do here.”

Mr Ming said he made an impact on the cruise’s passengers and would consider similar demonstrations in the future.

He added: “They even invited me to come back on the ship.”