New Year's Day and we ate the traditional "Good Luck" roast pork and sauerkraut meal at Gail and Bud's in Palm Springs. No black eyed peas however which are also considered good luck to eat on New Year's day.
The Southern tradition of eating black-eyed peas on New Years day to bring good luck for the coming year, dates back to the U.S. Civil War. Union troops, especially in areas targeted by General Sherman, would typically strip the countryside of all stored food, crops, and livestock and destroy whatever they couldn't carry away. At that time, Northerners considered "field peas" and corn suitable only for animal food, and as a result didn't steal or destroy these foods. Many Southerners survived as a result of this.
Many people put a dime in the pot with the black eyed peas. Whoever gets the serving with the dime has special good luck for the year...and if worse comes to worse, they are at least a dime richer!
At our gathering most people brought an appetizer and we had an array of crackers and delicious spreads: Diana's Velveeta chile walnut roll, a cilantro avocado artichoke spread, smoked salmon with sour cream. The usual dips and chips were in abundance. Plenty of food and excellent company.
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