Stirring the pot for good fortune

For good fortune in the New Year, a plate of black-eyed peas is considered auspicious, especially in the American South. Believe it or don’t. Consuming this frugal dish on the first day of the year is said to augur the arrival of wealth. Of course, there’s a back story. Sephardic Jews were evidently eating black-eyed peas for good luck on Rosh Hashana centuries ago and the custom eventually travelled with them to America. (We think of beans as purely New World, along with tomatoes, chillies and potatoes, but legumes like field peas, chickpeas and lentils have been Old World staples since biblical times.)

Black-eyed peas also arrived in Florida and the Caribbean, carried by African slaves. Just as African seasoning influenced Creole cooking, so black-eyed peas became part of the wider culture.

Ultimately, the Civil War played a part in the spread of the blackeyed pea throughout the South. The ravages of war and the scarcity of food changed the region’s diet. Dried beans and corn, formerly considered the food of the poor (or animal fodder), became the food of the entire population, and I expect most people felt lucky to have it.

Black-eyed peas cook much like any other dried bean. An overnight soak in cold water helps them cook faster. Simmered with onion and a meaty ham bone (other options are salt pork, bacon, pigs feet, hog jowl and ham hock), they can be prepared quite simply, with just salt and pepper. But they may also be made highly seasoned with hot pepper and spices; some cooks add tomato.

I find the New Year’s custom especially attractive, as I’m a certifiable bean booster and would gladly dig into a bowl of black-eyed peas anytime. They have an exquisite texture and aroma like no other legume.

Adding cooked greens (the colour of money) is said to make them even luckier.

Freshly baked cornbread (the colour of gold) is the perfect accompaniment. Stir in some steamed rice and you can call it Hoppin’ John, though purists will say the rice and beans should be cooked in the same pot. It’s still a lucky dish, either way.

Aside from being outrageously tasty, black-eyed peas may also help a hangover. But I like the good-luck factor, and encourage guests to have at least a taste. It couldn’t hurt, right?