In the South, cabbage and blackeye peas are eaten on New Year’s day for prosperity, luck and wealth. My last blog gave an idea for preparing blackeye peas.
Cabbage is in season and very inexpensive, the supermarkets had bins and bins. So, I accommodated and purchased four cabbage heads. That’s alot of cabbage, I must be wishing for alot of wealth this year. But I actually like cabbage–didn’t like it much growing up–and find there are many ways to prepare it when you really think about it.
A Southern tradition is to eat blackeye peas and cabbage on New Year’s day or after the clock rings in the new year at midnight. Blackeye peas mean luck and prosperity. Cabbage, reminding a person of green back dollars, means wealth. My very sweet, Cajun/Italian next door neighbor would share her boiled cabbage greens and blackeye peas if I said I wasn’t cooking any on News Years Day. She made sure we were taken care of.
Traditionally these two foods are boiled, but they can be prepared in other ways as well. There’s no excuse not to eat these things on New Years day. And if you’re really not a cook, putting a few dried blackeye peas in your pocket has the same effect, I’m told. Coleslaw is easily found in restaurants, those chicken fast-food chains and easily made from a mix from the supermarket.
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