New Year Food Traditions Black Eyed Peas
Their battle is ancient familiar.
New year food traditions black eyed peas. Try some black eyed peas for prosperity grapes for good fortune or long noodles. Black eyed peas swell when they re cooked which symbolizes an expansion of wealth. Or the peas can be part of a soup.
If you believe that theory it makes perfect sense to dine on peas on january 1. Through our partnership with mercer university s center for collaborative journalism amyre makupson takes a closer look at one tradition with roots that date back over a century. Black eyed peas are served with rice in the traditional southern u s.
Not to be confused with green peas or the hip hop band black eyed peas are actually a kind of bean. Black eyed peas were also given to enslaved people as were most other traditional southern new year s foods and evolved through the years to be considered soul food one variation of the superstition says that black eyed peas were all the enslaved people in the south had to celebrate with on the first day of january 1863. The saying peas for pennies greens for.
Every new year s day for the past half century gloria elaine johnson williams has risen early to slow boil black eyed peas in a pot filled with water vegetable. Eat poor on new year s and eat fat the rest of the year is a popular southern expression according to the farmers almanac. Dish called hoppin john for new year s eve.
Dried black eyed peas swell when they cook symbolizing prosperity the. Black eyed peas collard greens and cornbread served on new year s day is a tradition that is not only popular in the south but all over the nation. Eating black eyed peas on new year s day is a time honored tradition.
According to a portion of the talmud written around 500 a d it was jewish custom at the time to eat black eyed peas in celebration of rosh hashanah the jewish new year which occurs in the fall. It started in the south but eating black eyed peas on new year s day is thought to bring prosperity in the new year. It is possible that the tradition arrived in america with sephardic jews who first arrived in georgia in the 1730s.