Southern Fare for New Year's Day

       Traditional (or " superstitional") food to be eaten on New Years Day in the South includes black-eyed peas, greens, and cornbread.  The practice of eating black-eyed peas for luck is believed to date back to the  War Between the States.  Planted as food for livestock,  the fields of black-eyed peas were overlooked as Sherman's troops destroyed or stole other crops. This gave the black-eyed pea  an important role as a major food source for the surviving Confederates.

     Nowadays, the tradition of eating black-eyed peas on New Years Day has morphed into a number of variations   including:

     When served with greens (collards, mustard or turnip greens, cabbage, whichever grows in the area), the peas represent coins and the greens represent paper money.
      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.   That's a lot of black-eyed peas!!!
      We didn't really follow tradition... We had my famous baked-bean casserole with greens.  No cornbread. Somehow I don't think it will matter "a hill of beans" what we ate today!  Tee-hee.  I am not a superstitious person, and have generally resisted fitting in with tradition, so my menu will have to suffice.
      Oh, we also had rocky road ice cream... d'ya' think that will help our luck and prosperity?

Shalom  Y'all - Twyla