Happy New Year!

Today, I made Hoppin’ John! This a traditional New Year’s meal, incorporating black eyed peas, or pigeon peas. I had always heard that eating black eyed peas on New Year’s Day was traditional, but never knew why.

So, I went to Wikipedia and learned what it had to say: “Hoppin’ John is a dish served in the Southern United States consisting of black-eyed peas (or field peas) and rice, with chopped onion and sliced bacon, seasoned with a bit of salt.[1] Some people substitute ham hock, fatback, or country sausage for the conventional bacon; a few use green peppers or vinegar and spices. Smaller than black-eyed peas, field peas are used in the Low Country of South Carolina and Georgia; black-eyed peas are the norm elsewhere….In the southern United States, eating Hoppin’ John on New Year’s Day is thought to bring a prosperous year filled with luck.[2][3]…