Why Southerners start the year off with black-eyed peas

Start the new year with a spoonful of black-eyed peas and good fortune may follow, holds an old Southern superstition. Representing prosperity and coins, these lucky legumes often share a plate with cornbread (gold) and greens (paper money) in a tradition stretching back centuries. While many cultures treat beans and peas as celebration fare, the American approach is a unique concept, braiding culinary practices of the African diaspora with European influences. Black-eyed peas, once dismissed as food for the poor, took on new significance for the region when the desolation of the Civil War led to supply shortages. Swelling on the stove, they carried a hopeful reminder—that even something small can grow and sustain.

• One of the earliest records of the celebratory custom dates to December 31, 1862, when enslaved people gathered in churches on Freedom’s Eve to await Emancipation. In South Carolina’s Lowcountry, the ensuing jubilations involved Hoppin’ John, a one-pot dish of peas, rice, and pork.

• An Atlanta soul food landmark since 1945, Mary Mac’s Tea Room offers black-eyed peas as part of its New Year’s Day lunch. The side dish, seasoned with smoked ham shank and fatback, is wildly popular—the establishment went through 100 pounds that day alone in 2024.

• Dine at Mert’s Heart & Soul in Charlotte, North Carolina, for the cult-favorite Soul Roll: black-eyed peas, collards, rice, and fried chicken packed inside an egg roll, served alongside a spicy honey mustard dip.

• Black-eyed peas figure prominently in several menu items at Bennachin, a West African restaurant in New Orleans’s French Quarter. Try the mburu akara—crispy, airy bean fritters eaten with a rich tomato stew and hunks of French bread.

• Pick your own black-eyed peas at family-run Hunsader Farms in Bradenton, Florida, where pods are in season April through May and September through November.

This article appears in the Winter 2026 issue of Southbound.

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