What New Year's Day dish of black-eyed peas and rice is a Southern tradition?

Hoppin' John is the Southern New Year's Day dish made with black-eyed peas and rice.

The dish is also known as Carolina peas and rice and is strongly associated with the Lowcountry of South Carolina. Traditional versions combine rice with black-eyed peas or field peas, onion, and pork such as bacon, ham hock, fatback, or country sausage. Some cooks use smoked turkey instead of pork.

Hoppin' John's history is connected to Gullah foodways and to African-influenced rice-and-bean dishes. Similar combinations appear in West African cooking, including Ghanaian waakye. Early American references to versions of the name date to the 19th century, although the exact origin of the name remains uncertain.

On New Year's Day, black-eyed peas symbolize coins or prosperity, while greens served alongside them represent money. Cornbread may represent gold. Leftover Hoppin' John is sometimes called “Skippin' Jenny,” a name linked to frugality and hopes for greater luck in the year ahead. Red beans and rice, gumbo, and jambalaya are related Southern dishes, but they are not the same dish.