Several years ago, Judy and I were having a talk about New Year’s and mentioned making her traditional dinner of black-eyed peas, collards, cornbread and pork, something she did every year. I’d never heard of such a thing, but I live in New England by way of growing up in California, so figured it was a southern thing (Judy is from Georgia).
I was right.
I pumped Judy for more info as to WHY those foods. Apparently they are about luck and prosperity: black-eyed peas represent coins, collards are green-backs (or paper money), corn is gold and pork is for … well, honestly I didn’t know. So I looked around and found this article:
The True Story of Traditional New Year’s Lucky Foods
It says, in part:
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Well … okay, I guess.
I have to be honest, though. I’ve never even eaten black-eyed peas. Or collards. It’s true! Maybe that’s why I’ve never been lucky enough to win the lottery?
We don’t have a traditional family meal for New Year’s Day. I’m feeling a tad left out. And I have to admit, Hoppin’ John Stew (pictured above — click the photo for another recipe) sounds pretty dang good.
What about you? Do you serve a traditional meal for New Year’s Day? Do tell!
We have exactly the same dish for New Year’s. I grew up in southern Indiana which is not the south except…my mother-in-law lived in northern Indiana and the dividing line between north and south was right in the middle of Indiana to her. So when I made collards with bacon or Hoppin’ John all with cornbread she said all of my cooking was southern. She did however, eat every bite!
That Hoppin’ John stew looks SO good. I’m going to have to try it. The south is so rich with tradition, I love chatting with folks from there!
What an interesting topic. My family doesn’t have a traditional New Year’s Day meal. We’d generally eat the same thing then we’d eat at any other winter meal.
Although this was the time of the year when we took down our Christmas tree and divvied up the last of the candy canes. So maybe candy canes could be considered to be our traditional New Year’s Day food.
So maybe candy canes could be considered to be our traditional New Year’s Day food.
LOL!
We don’t have any special meals to start off the new year. If there was left over shrimp from New Year’s Eve, that is usually polished off. I made my hubby’s favorite meal, one of them actually, last night for New Year’s Eve, Sage & Rosemary Chicken Strips. I use Avocado oil to fry them in. The flavoring is just what is says – I use a mortar & pestle to grind up the whole rosemary, then mix it with onion granules (or powder), ground sage and flour. Because it’s a grind to make the crushed Rosemary, I mash a lot and triple all the other ingredients to make a mixture of sorts. It makes things more time efficient for when I make it again. The recipe also calls for salt, but I cut that out. Salt is not my friend anymore.
I no longer measure anything. I dump everything together until I have the amount I want for another 4 meals. I go by scent. Pair that with thyme rice and a veggie and it’s a great meal. Today, I may go for comfort food: Shepard’s Pie. I love leftovers. 🙂
Shepherd’s Pie is very “New England”. I’d never heard of it until I moved here… and it’s a GREAT way to use up leftover meat and veggies. I really like it.
We’ve always had traditional meals for other holidays and birthdays. I didn’t know there was something specific for the New Year. Interesting. It does look good.
In my family, I guess our “traditional” meals were just things we liked, so repeated. They weren’t so much about actual “tradition” like these dishes are. It’s fascinating, really, to discover how folks from other areas live.