New Year's day, 2010, finds me in Ohio. Even though I would rather be in my home state of Tennessee, I did the next best thing and took my wife to lunch at Cracker Barrell, a Tennessee based restaurant which offers good down-home Southern cooking.
When giving the waitress our order I mentioned that eating Black Eyed Peas on New Year's day was customary, but none were were on the menu. "Don't worry," she said. "Today everyone who eats here gets free Black Eyed Peas along with whatever else they might order. So I had Black Eyed peas, turnip greens, fried okra and corn bread, washed down with sweet iced tea. Yum, yum!!!
Eating Black Eyed Peas, also called Cow Peas, on New Year's day is a fine Southern tradition that started in the 1860's during the War Between the States. The story goes that during The War, Yankee invaders raided the food supply of a small band of Confederate soldier's one New Year's eve and only left behind Black Eyed Peas. One version of the story says that the Northern soldiers burned all the crops in the fields except Black Eyed Peas because they did not recognize the Southern crop and thought it was just weeds.
Whatever the case, the brave Confederate volunteers awoke on New Year's morning and feasted on Black Eyed Peas in preparation for battle. That day, the out-numbered band of Southern boys fought with unusual vigor - pushing the Yankees out of the region.
Later, townsfolk asked the Confederate soldiers what was the key of their success. The grateful Confederates unanimously agreed it wouldn't have been possible without the lucky Black Eyed Peas. The story spread and with it the Southern tradition of eating Black Eyed Peas on New Year's Day for luck and prosperity.
When I was a kid growing up in East Tennessee, the old folks told me that story and I believed them. So for the past sixty years I've always made it my personal tradition to stuff myself with Black Eyed Peas on New Year's day.
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Article by J. Stephen Conn - Photo by Ranjit Bhatnagar on Flickr.com
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