If you celebrated your recent New Year in a U.S. Southern State, chances are very high that you ate with your New Year’s meal a generous helping of black-eyed peas. Wonder why?
Well, in the Southern states of our great nation, America, there’s not just a custom, there’s a mandate – eat with your New Year’s meal a good helping of black-eyed peas. Most in our Northern states don’t really know the reason for this requirement to eat the peas, and the truth is this – most people in the South don’t really know the reason why either. They’ve just been told, “If you want good luck, good fortune for the new year, eat those peas”. But the big question is “Why”? The story behind it is really quite fascinating.
As we all know, the best way to defeat an army is not just to take their ammo and weapons, but an even more effective act is to take away their food supply. So, in November of 1864, in the middle of our terrible Civil War, when Major General William Sherman marched his Northern troops across Georgia, he was determined to wipe out the Southern troops and people by starvation.
So, on his march, which became known as Sherman’s Bloody March, his army took or destroyed everything in their path. That included livestock, grains, and crops, anything which could be used to sustain the Southern troops. And the results were devastating and thorough – almost. You see, at least one crop was left alone, undestroyed – the black-eyed pea.
You see, the lowly black-eyed pea was up to that time only used to feed the livestock. It was considered to be of little or no value and certainly not thought to be food for the Southern troops. So here it was, the beginning of a new year, 1865, and the people of the South awoke to the reality that they may very well be facing mass starvation. But wait, look, there it was – the black-eyed pea – silos full of black-eyed peas. And the people began to eat them.
And the result? The black-eyed pea was nourishing, full of protein, able to sustain the citizens from starving, and was used to feed the troops.
It was a humbling experience for the people – they felt blessed, lucky. And the black-eyed pea became an important food source in the South still to this day.
And the tradition? To anyone in the South – eating this lowly black-eyed pea on New Year’s Day is sure to bring good fortune for the year. Did you eat yours?
Happy New Year!