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.

According to Southern lore, you will have good luck for the entire year if you have the traditional New Year's Day supper. In the South, that means a meal of collard greens, hoppin' John, black-eyed peas, cornbread, and pot likker soup.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Eating black-eyed peas on New Year's Day has been a tradition held by families for decades, but where did it first come from? Let's connect the dots. According to author and food scholar Adrian Miller, eating black-eyed peas for the holiday is said to bring good luck, health and abundance.

According to author and food scholar Adrian Miller, eating black eyed peas on New Years Eve or New Years Day promises good luck, health, and abundance. The bean has taken the form of good fortune and has even adopted a few different aliases along the way.

If you want to ensure that the new year is a lucky one, take part in the classic Southern tradition: eat black-eyed peas on New Year's day. As the tradition goes, a serving of black-eyed peas eaten on New Year's day is said to bring luck and wealth 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.

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.

If you are planning to celebrate the New Year in the Southeast, it is most likely that you will be offered black-eyed peas in some form, either just after midnight or on New Year's Day.

If you don't eat your black-eyed peas you could be tempting fate for the rest of the year. So how did this start and more importantly, where you can find the best black-eyed peas this New Year's Day? The tradition of eating black-eyed peas for luck is generally believed to date back to the Civil War.

What do you eat with black-eyed peas? ›

Black-eyed peas, though they are actually beans, are said to symbolize lucky coins. Paired with a skillet of cornbread that represents gold, Southern-style collard greens that symbolize dollar bills, and pork recipes that stand for progress, you're setting yourself up for a successful year... and a delicious meal, too!

One tradition common in the Southern USA is that each person at the meal should leave three peas on their plate to ensure that the New Year will be filled with luck, fortune, and romance.

When Sherman's troops overtook and raided the food supplies of the Confederate South, Union soldiers regarded as them as animal feed and left them behind in the fields. The Confederates, however, survived by eating this crop and considered themselves lucky to have had them and, so, the peas became symbolic of luck.

With a creamy texture and mild taste, black-eyed peas can be made into delicious stews, fried patties, or even hearty salads. They're especially popular in the Southern U.S. during New Year's celebrations (thought to bring good luck) and in Caribbean cooking where they're traditionally served in rice.

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.

Eat Grapes

Exactly 12! If you want luck in 2024, eat a dozen grapes at the stroke of midnight. Reflect on the upcoming year as you eat: Each grape represents one month of 2024.