Tuesday - Food for Thought and Luck

[ninanevermore]

Today on my drive into work, I was thinking about the fact that New Year's Day is over, and I don't have to eat either blackeyed peas or cornbread for another whole year if I don't want to. It's a Texas tradition, and I was obliged to eat them yesterday if I wanted to be wealthier in 2007 than I was in 2006, and to have any semblance of good luck. I've followed this tradition all of my life, and every year so far I've been a little better off than I was the year before. I could tempt fait by not eating them, but I'm not that brave.

The peas and the cornbread are simple Southern fare, and I've read sources that say the tradition is to remind those who follow it to be humble and not expect too much. I suppose if you don't expect much from life, then whatever good fortune comes your way has to seem like a blessing. I, personally, consider it a blessing that my New Years meal isn't a whole lot worse than it is. In other Southern states that aren't Texas, I've heard people have to eat collard greens as well. It makes me grateful to be from where I am, because I have tasted collard greens and I like them even less than I like blackeyed peas.

The cornbread doesn't bother me. I like cornbread, especially if it's sweet. I wish all lucky foods tasted as good. Baked in a cast-iron skillet, hot from the oven and smothered in butter and possibly honey, cornbread is as tasty as good luck gets. It's the peas that vex me - those bland, nasty blackeyed peas. If you happen to like them, good for you. I don't and never have. I don't even like your grandmother's age-old secret recipe that is supposed to be so sublime. I do not like them, Sam-I-Am, not even boiled with onions, herbs and ham.

For many years, I opened a can of blackeyed peas on New Years Day, choked down one spoonful of them and tossed the rest of the can in the trash. Then one year I accidentally grabbed a can of peas that were seasoned with jalapeño peppers and discovered, to my surprise, that jalapeño peppers make blackeyed peas palatable. Not exactly good, but actually editable. Why people haven't been eating them this way all along is beyond me. To any other blackeyed-pea hating Southerners out there trying not to gag on the traditional food of your ancestors this time of year, you've got to try them this way. I can attest that jalapeños will make the New Year much happier.

If you live somewhere where you have to eat collard greens, though, I can't help you. If you don't like collard greens already, nothing in the world that I can think of will make them taste good to you. I suppose that if you're desperate, you could try adding some jalapeños in the collards. Who knows? They might help, and as far as I'm concerned nothing can make collard greens taste any worse.

If that fails, the best I can recommend is that you use the trick that worked for me with the peas for many years - hold your nose and swallow one bite of them without chewing. After all, it's for a good purpose. Good luck and prosperity are hard to come by in this life, and at least once a year you must take whatever means are necessary to attract them, at least if you're Southern.


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Comments

[sassysher.livejournal.com]

I am from Georgia and it's our tradition to eat black-eyed peas, cornbread, and yes, collard greens. I feel the same way you do about collard greens. I eat them the same way you eat black-eyed peas. Fortunately I do like black-eyed peas but I do think that the cornbread is the best part of the whole meal.

I've always said we shouldn't follow the tradition but I'm not that brave either. I mean I may not be a millionaire or super lucky but I'm not in poverty and I don't have the worst luck.

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

"I mean I may not be a millionaire or super lucky but I'm not in poverty and I don't have the worst luck."

See, you stick with what works. That's my philosophy. ;)

I'm still glad for my Texas Exemption from collard greens. People in East Texas aren't exempt, and I feel bad for them.

it’s for a good purpose

[regatomic.livejournal.com]

haha yes, you have to cater to lady luck as best you can,. luckily (fancy that!) i happen to remain on her good side no matter what,.. charm and good looks?,.. naw,..just lucky,...o.0

Re: it’s for a good purpose

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

Luck is funny that way. Some people have to court her, while she finds others attractive enough to pursue on her own... ;^)

[clark-inda-dark.livejournal.com]

I agree with you: The cornbread I could definitely handle, but the blackeyed peas is another story. I've never liked them, but I guess it's not so bad for only once a year.

I like the moral that the tradition holds. So many don't appreciate what they get because they expect so much out of everything. Expecting less brings great fortune with anything you receive. :)

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

The peas and cornbread (and collards, for that matter) are traditional "poor people" food down here. This one time of year, you are expected to eat them no matter what your station in life is.

The good news is they both go good with pork chops. ^_^

[jenelycam.livejournal.com]

Apparently I'm not from the South...LOL I'd never heard of this tradition before LJ...

I don't do anything for goodluck, except kiss my sweetie at midnight. ^^ That's never a bad thing. :P

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

Kisses with a sweetie are always a good thing!

As a northern girl, you're exempt from this dietary trick for attracting luck. I know a lot of people who have to eat cabbage on New Years, instead (mostly people of Polish decent).

[jenelycam.livejournal.com]

I ate cabbage in eggrolls for NYE...LOL

I swear, we must be heathens. We don't have any traditions. ;P

[coupesetique.livejournal.com]

Coleslaw? Really? What part of the state?

I'm originally from Louisiana, and we did cabbage and black-eyed peas. Black-eyed peas with pork chop jambalaya used to be typical New Year's fare when I was growing up.

[coupesetique.livejournal.com]

How coincidental! Lafayette = best evar! My hometown is Rayne, 20 miles west of Lafayette on I-10. The majority of my dad's family live in Lafayette, and so did I for a few years while attending UL. Small world! :-)

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

I've heard of a lot of people who have to eat cabbage! Better than collards. I still don't like either one, though.

[m-malcontent.livejournal.com]

try a little salsa with your black-eyed peas....Lot of people eat Blackeyes with salsa....and any tomato based salsa will probably overpower the taste of the peas. Its funny every place but here in the South...black eyes and corn on the cob are cattle food not something people eat.

some people also eat cabbage which is supposed to bring money in the new year.

My mom also puts a dime (yes i know how "sanitary" that is...into the pot of peas....and whoever gets the dime gets extra luck in the New Year.

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

Jalapeños work well enough, so I suppose salsa might even be better. Still, the peas would still have that almost grainy texture and will never be a favorite of mine. :P

I've read that blackeyed peas were originally cattle food, but that in the economic hard times during and right after the civil war people ate them out of desperation. I believe this, as they are barely fit for human consumption. Maybe telling themselves that eating those things were good luck made them go down easier for people.

Sweet corn, on the other hand, is delicious. The Native Americans originally cultivated it for themselves to eat, not their livestock, so I have no problem consuming it.

I would assume that the heat from the stove would destroy any germs on the time - choking on the coin is the only real danger with that tradition.

[mugglemomjsw.livejournal.com]

We just eat greens in general... I'm sorry that you don't like NY foods as I personally enjoy them. Of course, eating Southern-seasoned greens remind me of my great-grandmother. :)

And, yes, jalapenos make EVERYTHING better!! (Including cornbread, yum!)

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

I'm just a picky eater. Collard greens are bitter-tasting to me. If I have to eat something green and leafy, I'd just as soon that it be spinach.

I eat the B.E. Peas out of a strong sense of tradition; the hard sell was convincing my Pacific-Northwest reared husband that he also had to eat them. After all, if he has bad luck it's going to affect me. The jalapeños make it possible for me not to have to throw out a single pea; he now eats the ones that I don't. ^_^

[mugglemomjsw.livejournal.com]

Wow. That's awesome!! Our son is a little goofball over any kind of pea, so I oftentimes find myself fixing peas just for him!!

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

Happy New Year to you, too!

Oh, we get plastered on New Years Eve here, too. Maybe that explains the bland New Year's Day meal of peas and cornbread - they're easy to digest on a stomach that is still suffering the ravages of the night before.

[straphesia.livejournal.com]

Hi, this is the girl with the 'orosola' account. I don't generally use that account, but do my journaling in this one. So I added you over here instead. Take care. :)

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I made the switch. :)