Annual Black-Eyed Pea Poll (Tyler, Sherman: house, live, military)

[TexasReb]

Greetings Fellow Texans,

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and will have an equally Happy New Year.

I am a little late in getting this one up, but here is the Annual Black-Eyed Pea Poll. Many, if not most of you, have seen it before, but each year we have new members and contributors to the Texas forum.

As probably all of y'all know, the custom of eating black-eyed peas (usually along with cornbread and some type of greens/cabbage) is a long-standing Texas/Southern tradition.

The most common "theory" of how this came about trace to the War Between the States when, Sherman's rampage thru Georiga left many Southern families devastated and starving. However, one of the few things left behind the wake was a type of "legume" which grew wild in the South, and thought, previously, useless for anything but "cow feed." Of course, this was the black-eyed pea.

With little or nothing left to eat otherwise, Southern women, left with no alternative, tried those black-eyed peas and found them actually quite fit for human consumption! Pure starvation had been staved off by these sweet little legumes! And since all this took place around the first of the year, it was taken as a "divine" intervention of sorts. That good luck for the South was sure to follow.

Well, of course, we lost the War, so good luck in that sense didn't follow. But, the survivors from Georgia (or Alabama, or South Carolina) never forgot how black-eyed peas had saved them from starvation. And, whether they remained after the conflict, or migrated west to Texas, the memory and tales spread and eventually became a region wide custom.

Ok. that is one theory. (And yes, the one I love! ).

However, ANOTHER is a bit more interesting...and much more humorously cynical! . It says that all the above was born out of a marketing ploy on the part of a really smart East Texas fellow. Here is a link and excerpt to it:

The Great Blackeyed Pea Hoax, Blackeyed Pea New Year Tradition.

THE GREAT BLACKEYED PEA HOAX
by C. F. Eckhardt
Did you eat blackeyed peas for good luck on New Year's Day? Did you do so because it's a 'great ante-bellum Southern tradition?'

If so, congratulations. You have been scammed by one of the most likeable con-artists in Texas history.


The piece is well worth reading. Meanwhile, here is the poll...

[TXNGL]

Native Texan yes.

[debzkidz]

I don't like them, but we always have some just because we think we're suppose to.

[TexasHorseLady]

Native Texan, lived in Athens for a while during my youth, of COURSE I eat them on New Year's Day, and harangue my kids (one in Canada!) to make sure they do.

[AlGreen]

It'd be interesting to hear how everybody prepares their peas.

Growing up, my mom would usually boil them with ham hocks, with some onion and just a tad bit of garlic. i've also had them fried with a little seasoning. i love it both ways.

[TexasReb]

Originally Posted by AlGreen

It'd be interesting to hear how everybody prepares their peas.
Growing up, my mom would usually boil them with ham hocks, with some onion and just a tad bit of garlic. i've also had them fried with a little seasoning. i love it both ways.

Yep, THAT is one of the reasons I start this particular annual poll, AlG. That is, to learn and glean from some "home-grown" recipies! Heck, whoever said black-eyed peas have to be reserved for New Years Day?

I always do mine with sliced squared bacon in it. GOTTA be fresh black-eyed peas though. Although I will say that dried will work if soaked and prepared right.

Canned? Heresy, I say. Heresy.

What about the greens part though, y'all? I usually do cabbage.

[Ketabcha]

Native Texan - Yes.

My mother has always told me that we have to eat one pea for each year we have been alive. So, I have to eat a lot of them.

I don't prepare them any special way. I just add a bit of jalisco to the pot. I also eat greens with them and cornbread.

My mother and I are both native Texans. My father was born in Brooklyn and he had never heard of the blackeyed pea tradition. He learned soon enough. We were a military family and lived all over the place but we always ate the peas on New Year's Day.

I like them. So, I usually eat an entire can throughout the day. They get even better later in the day after simmering all day long.

A great New Year's Eve to all of you.

This reminds me of a joke my uncle used to tell.

A Texan was at a reunion in another state with his family. His ten year old son was standing next to him:

Daddy: Son, don't ever ask a man where he is from?

Son: Why, Daddy?

Daddy: Because if he is from Texas he will have already told you.
And if he is not from Texas he will be too embarrassed to admit it.

[AlGreen]

Originally Posted by TexasReb

Yep, THAT is one of the reasons I start this particular annual poll, AlG. That is, to learn and glean from some "home-grown" recipies! Heck, whoever said black-eyed peas have to be reserved for New Years Day?

I always do mine with sliced squared bacon in it. GOTTA be fresh black-eyed peas though. Although I will say that dried will work if soaked and prepared right.

Canned? Heresy, I say. Heresy.

What about the greens part though, y'all? I usually do cabbage.

i've never had canned black eyed peas in my life. the only canned beans i've ever put in my mouth were bush's baked beans, and that's only because i love them lol.

as far as the greens go, it's usually always collards boiled with some salt pork that we have on new year's

[RooCeleste]

Native Texan - Yep, for 41 years! And yes, I have eaten black-eyed peas on every New Year's Day since I can remember and probably had them in my bottle on my first New Year's, when I was a mere 4 months old! :-) I figure I really have no complaints about my life, and so why change a tradition that has worked thus far?!

I put three pounds on to soak this morning for all my neighbors, some of whom are from NYC, Turkey, India, and Virginia! I have no clue if they've heard of the tradition, but if not, they will tonight at midnight! I am also making mini corn muffins to go with the peas, but tomorrow my husband and I will fry a head of cabbage and have that ourselves. I had never heard of the cabbage tradition until I moved from Tyler/Texarkana areas to South Texas, but I love cabbage so it wasn't an issue! I usually ate it boiled, but when I became a therapist in the Texas prison system I learned (from the inmates!) to fry it in a skillet, with various spices and S/P. It is the best way to eat cabbage!!

I cook my black-eyed peas with bacon or ham (whatever I have), onion, some jalapenos and then whatever dry spices I feel like dumping in the pot! I'll stick them in the crockpot around noon today, and let them cook all afternoon and night. I also made Texas Caviar black-eyed pea dip for us to munch on at the party tonight.

Happy New Year's everyone!!!

[momof2dfw]

YEP! Native Texan and hubby is a native of Bama and we have good'ol black-eyed peas, pork of some kind, collard's (spinach for me) and cornbread and wash it all down w/ some sweet iced tea on New Years Day.

I fix my Black-Eyed Peas w/ some salt pork and bacon chopped up, chopped onions and salt & pepper. Let simmer all day and mmmmmm, mmmmm, mmmmmmm the house smells DEEEEE-VINE!