Black-Eyed Pea Recipes for Good Luck in the New Year! (2024)

FAQs

How to eat black-eyed peas on New Year's? ›

Cornbread, often served with black-eyed peas and greens, represents gold. For the BEST chance of luck every day in the year ahead, one must eat exactly 365 black-eyed peas, no more or less. Black-eyed peas eaten with stewed tomatoes represent wealth and health.

Hoppin' John is a dish traditionally eaten in the southern United States on New Year's Day. Dating back to the early 1800s, it is made with black-eyed peas (aka cow peas), rice, and meat (usually pork, in the form of bacon or ham). The meal can also include collard greens and cornbread.

On New Year's Day, millions of people will dutifully eat some amount of black-eyed peas with the hope that it will lead to prosperity throughout next year. This superstition has its strongest hold on people with some connection to the South, whether by birth, bloodlines, or current residency.

Eating black-eyed peas, a Southern tradition that goes back hundreds of years could leave you feeling lucky. Eating black-eyed peas for New Year's has long been an African-American and Southern tradition. It signifies luck or prosperity, one of several New Year's foods that are associated with good fortune.

Greens, Black-Eyed Peas, Cornbread, and Ham | Photo by Meredith. You may not be superstitious, but why tempt fate? Dig into these traditional lucky foods on New Year's Day to attract abundance and prosperity in the year ahead.

Lobster, cows, and chicken are all considered unlucky animals to eat on New Year's because of how they move. Read on for more foods superstitious people try to avoid on the holiday.

Eat Your Peas and Greens

In fact, there's a whole menu of foods to eat on New Year's Day to bring on good luck and fortune. For Southerners, the most important are the black-eyed peas and collard greens. Add a skillet of cornbread to symbolize gold coins. Who doesn't want those?

Don't Clean the House on New Year's Day - You will wash away any good luck coming your way.

Often referred to as hoppin' john, black-eyed peas and collard greens are commonly eaten as part of a Southern tradition to bring forth good luck and prosperity in the new year.

Why do you eat ham on New Year's? ›

Pork and more so ham! That's because pork is considered lucky because of the way pigs “root forward.”Cornbread because the kernels represent coins. Ring-shaped items like doughnuts also symbolize good luck!

Cornbread, often served with black-eyed peas and greens, represents gold. For the best chance of luck every day in the year ahead, one must eat at least 365 black-eyed peas on New Year's Day. Black-eyed peas eaten with stewed tomatoes represent wealth and health.

If there was any corn left they made cornbread. So, theses three items have come to represent hope and prosperity for the New Year. The peas represent coins, the greens - paper money and the cornbread, gold.

Pork was believed to bring good luck because “the pig roots forward” for its food, as opposed to the backward scratching of an animal like a chicken. The Germans also believed that if the pork was rich in fat, it would signify prosperity in life, according to Stoltzfus Meats, a Pa. Dutch food company.

The black-eyed peas are for luck, or prosperity, the peas represent coins and greens foldin' money.

The Black American and Southern tradition is meant to bring good luck.

So, we've established that eating black-eyed peas on January 1 will bring you a year's worth of prosperity. But the luck won't stick, according to many legends, if you don't eat them with greens (which symbolize money), cornbread (which symbolizes gold), and pork (which symbolizes luck, as pigs root forward).

Bottom Line. If beans make you uncomfortably gassy, sprinkle a little baking soda into their soaking water. It will reduce the volume of gas produced by the legumes, plus, they will cook quicker. If you're even shorter on time, you may want to try some of our favorite recipes to make with a can of black beans.

Collard greens are a traditional pairing with black-eyed peas. Slow-cooked with a bit of bacon or ham hock, they bring a smoky, earthy flavor to the meal. The greens' slight bitterness and tender texture provide a nice contrast to the creamy peas, making for a balanced and flavorful dish.