Hoppin’ John is the traditional Southern U.S. New Year’s dish made with black-eyed peas and rice.
The dish usually combines black-eyed peas with rice, onions, and pork such as bacon or ham hock. In Southern food traditions, black-eyed peas are associated with prosperity, while greens and cornbread are often served alongside them to symbolize money and gold. Recipes vary considerably by family and region.
Hoppin’ John has roots in African American foodways and the food cultures of the American South. Its name appears in nineteenth-century American sources, though the precise origin of the phrase remains uncertain. The dish is related to West African and Caribbean rice-and-pea traditions, but its American form developed within the history of the South.
The New Year association is strongest in the Southern United States. It should not be confused with plain black-eyed peas: Hoppin’ John specifically refers to the prepared pea-and-rice dish.