In Cod We Trust: From Sea to Shore, the Celebrated Cuisine of Coastal Massachusetts

The Massachusetts seacoast is as varied as the coast of France. Built on whaling oil and hauls of cod, fishing villages from New Bedford to Rockport emerged as distinctively different cultures––different accents, different customs, different recipes––like strewn pearls along the tidal marshes and granite promontories that make up the Massachusetts shore. When people think of dock-side dining in Massachusetts they imagine buttery toasted lobster rolls, steaming bowls of creamy fish chowder, and alabaster-white slabs of baked cod piled with bread crumbs, but its rich and varied cuisine reflects all who have come to call these seaports home. Cultures––including, Sicilian, Portuguese, Finnish, and Irish––that fished and worked the granite quarries there a century ago were so tightly bound that generations have stayed and continue to leave their culinary mark on coastline. Their culinary influence shows in the sweet smells coming from the bakeries and restaurants. It’s a cuisine almost frozen in time, but ever reflecting the Atlantic Ocean. In Cod We Trust features over 175 recipes that celebrate the area’s unique place in the culinary world, and is a photographic journey for both people who love the area and those who hope to visit one day.