Happy New Year yall! About to hop over to London to get my black-eyed peas with mom and dad. ROLL TIDE!!! In the South, eating black-eyed peas on New Years Day is thought to bring prosperity in the new year. The beginning of the tradition dates back to the Civil War, when Union troops, especially in areas targeted by General Sherman, typically stripped the countryside of all stored food, crops, and livestock, and destroyed whatever they could not carry away. At that time, Northerners considered field peas and field corn suitable only for animal fodder, and did not steal or destroy these humble foods. Today, black-eyed peas are typically cooked with a pork product for flavoring (such as bacon, ham bones, fatback, or hog jowl), diced onion, and served with a hot chili sauce or a pepper-flavored vinegar. The traditional new-years meal also includes collard, turnip, or mustard greens, and ham. The peas, since they swell when cooked, symbolize prosperity; the greens symbolize money; the pork, because pigs root forward when foraging, represents positive motion. Cornbread also often accompanies this meal.
Posted on: Thu, 01 Jan 2015 15:18:47 +0000
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