Growing up, I don't remember having pork and sauerkraut or other good luck foods for the New Year's Day meal. In college, where Todd and I met, he talked about pork and sauerkraut for New Year's and how he liked to mix the sauerkraut in his mashed potatoes. When we got married, I started our New Year's meal tradition and it was the same as his family's: pork, sauerkraut, and mashed potatoes. Back in those days, I subscribed to a magazine, Southern Living, and one year, an article discussed a traditional Southern New Year's meal. That meal included Hoppin' John.
What a fun name! I was curious and laughed upon discovering one of the ingredients was black-eyed peas.
My family moved a lot. One of the places I lived was Owensboro, Kentucky, and once a week school lunches included black-eyed peas. I had never seen black-eyed peas but all my classmates were eating them so they must be good...right? I took a bite. Ew. They tasted like dirt. There was a squirt bottle filled with ketchup on the table and someone said, "Put ketchup on them. They'll taste better." I took the bottle, gave it a squeeze, and pfffftttt. It was empty. I quickly learned that on black-eyed pea day, sit as close to the ketchup bottle as possible. Doused with ketchup they didn't taste too bad. Fast forward to today, Hoppin' John has been part of our January 1 celebration for many years.
Traditionally paired with collard greens and cornbread, black-eyed peas are a staple New Year’s good luck food. The peas symbolize coins. Cooked with rice and pork, black-eyed peas become Hoppin’ John, a popular way to consume this New Year’s Day good luck food. According to history.com, "the moniker "Hoppin' John" likely comes from English speakers' mispronunciation of the French dish pois pigeons. Pois pigeons (French for pigeon peas) are a type of legume used in many cuisines. "Pois" (peas) is pronounced like "pwa", while "pigeon" (the bird) is pronounced in French as “pee-zhon." Use your best French accent and say it! It does resemble Hoppin' John.
It does sound very interesting. Not something that seems to have caught on over here ... yet ...
ReplyDeleteIt's a New Year's tradition, particularly in the southern United States. It's also a healthy dish.
DeleteMy mother always did Ham and scalloped potatoes. I did roast pork, baked beans, and roasted carrots and parsnips.
ReplyDeleteI remember my mom making scalloped potatoes. She had some contraption that she attached to the table and it sliced the potatoes paper thin. Your meal sounds delicious! Happy New Year.
DeleteI don't believe we had a traditional New Years Day food growing up but I did fall into the black-eyed pea tradition sometime in the 90's. I did it for a while and then gave it up. I do think your Hoppin' John looks tasty.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much. Rather thank keeping the collard greens separate, I added them to the Hoppin' John.
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