Starting off the New Year with some good luck!
Kicking off 2016, today we made Hoppin' John, a dish straight from Addy's Cook Book. Although it's a dish you can make and enjoy year round, the cook book's introduction to Addy's dinner specifically says that Addy's mother would make a big batch of it for everyone in the boarding house to enjoy on New Year's Day. Addy's Auntie Lula would make it for their family on the plantation, just like many other slaves did, as they believed that eating a humble meal on New Year's Day would bring them good luck in the coming year. This was a tradition that Addy and her family continued in freedom, and likely introduced to their Northern neighbors who weren't familiar with the custom.
Black eyed peas are originally from Africa, and it's believed that they were brought along with some of the first slave ships from Africa to the New World. Some food historians believe that Hoppin' John might be similar to food that was given to the slaves en route to America, or could just be based on recipes from several West African countries that people preserved when they were ripped from their homes and forced into enslavement on a new continent. Black eyed peas on their own are also considered symbols of good luck because they were one of the only foods Union soldiers didn't steal from Confederate food supplies during the Civil War, which was a huge help to starving troops and civilian populations when the Union Army used scorched earth tactics. This belief has crossed regional and ethnic boundaries, and has led many people to believe eating them on New Year's Day will bring you luck, just like Addy and her family did.
Hoppin' John is still enjoyed by many people in the south regardless of background, as former slaves brought the recipe with them when they moved to different parts of the country and introduced it to people who had never had it before. But who exactly is Hoppin' John?
