12 Vegan Hoppin John Recipes for a Lucky New Year (2024)

FAQs

What is the Hoppin John meal on New Year's Day? ›

What Is Hoppin' John? Served on New Year's Day with a side of collard greens and cornbread, Hoppin' John is a hearty African-American dish made by slowly simmering black-eyed peas with pork and vegetables.

And our tastiest superstitious tradition is eating Hoppin' John on New Year's Day. This classic Southern dish, a one-pot meal of black-eyed peas, ham hock, and rice, is believed by many (not just the Sterlings) to ensure wealth and bring good luck in the upcoming year.

Hoppin' John is a Southern American dish made with black-eyed peas, rice, and smoked pork, often served on New Year's Day for good luck. It is believed to bring prosperity and good fortune to those who eat it.

Regional variants include the Guyanese dish "cook-up rice", which uses black-eyed peas and coconut milk; "Hoppin' Juan," which substitutes Cuban black beans for black-eyed peas; the Peruvian tacu-tacu; and the Brazilian dish baião-de-dois, which often uses black-eyed peas.

Greens, Black-Eyed Peas, Cornbread, and Ham | Photo by Meredith. You may not be superstitious, but why tempt fate? Dig into these traditional lucky foods on New Year's Day to attract abundance and prosperity in the year ahead.

Eat Your Peas and Greens

In fact, there's a whole menu of foods to eat on New Year's Day to bring on good luck and fortune. For Southerners, the most important are the black-eyed peas and collard greens. Add a skillet of cornbread to symbolize gold coins. Who doesn't want those?

Some say an old, hobbled man called hoppin' John became known for selling peas and rice on the streets of Charleston. Others say slave children hopped around the table in eager anticipation of the dish. Most food historians think the name derives from a French term for dried peas, “pois pigeons.”

There's a wide range of New Year's Eve and New Year's Day food that graces family tables across the African Diaspora, but Hoppin' John or black-eyed peas and rice are high up on the list, especially among Southern African-American families. Black-eyed peas are thought to represent coins or good luck.

What's the difference between Hoppin' John and black-eyed peas? Hoppin' John has black-eyed peas in it, but it also has other ingredients. In this recipe, the black-eyed peas are stewed with onion, garlic, celery, and a ham hock, similar to how some Southern-style black-eyed peas would be cooked.

Are you supposed to eat black-eyed peas on Nye or New Year's Day? ›

For the best chance of luck every day in the year ahead, one must eat at least 365 black-eyed peas on New Year's Day. Black-eyed peas eaten with stewed tomatoes represent wealth and health.

According to historian and food scholar, Adrian Miller, black-eyed peas represent coins, collard greens represent paper money and cornbread represents gold. Some say you'll have the best chance at luck if you eat exactly 365 black-eyed peas, one for each day of the year.

A staple of the Southern table, Hoppin' John is famously eaten on New Year's Day, but is just as good any other day as well. This version features tender and earthy field peas cooked with fluffy rice and rich and smoky ham hocks.

Hoppin' John is made with black-eyed peas and rice, chopped onion and sliced bacon. Some recipes substitute another type of field peas for the black-eyed peas. Others also may use ham hock, fatback or country sausage in place of the bacon.

A highlight on the culinary map of the Palmetto State is Hoppin' John. Derived from the Gullah culture, this dish is as legendary as it is savory. Locally sourced ingredients, flavorful seasonings and spices and a certain level of flare are all part of what makes this a classic Southern dish.

Cornbread, often served with black-eyed peas and greens, represents gold. For the BEST chance of luck every day in the year ahead, one must eat exactly 365 black-eyed peas, no more or less. Black-eyed peas eaten with stewed tomatoes represent wealth and health.

Traditional Southern New Year's Day meal consisting of ham, black-eyed peas, collard greens and cornbread. OK – so maybe you aren't superstitious, but New Year's Day brings with it a traditional dinner which can – possibly – bring you a prosperous New Year.