In the southern United States, eating Hoppin' John on New Year's Day is thought to bring a prosperous year filled with luck.[2][3] The peas are symbolic of pennies or coins, and a coin is sometimes added to the pot or left under the dinner bowls.[4]Collard greens, mustard greens, turnip greens, chard, kale, cabbage and similar leafy green vegetables served along with this dish are supposed to further add to the wealth, since they are the color of American currency.[5]
Another traditional food, cornbread, can also be served to represent wealth, being the color of gold. On the day after New Year's Day, leftover "Hoppin' John" is called "Skippin' Jenny" and further demonstrates one's frugality, bringing a hope for an even better chance of prosperity in the New Year.[6]
The Oxford English Dictionary's first reference to the dish is from Frederick Law Olmsted's 19th century travelogue, A Journey in the Seaboard Slave States (1861).[7] A recipe for "Hopping John" in The Carolina Housewife by Sarah Rutledge,[8] which was published in 1847, is also cited as the earliest reference.[9] An even earlier source is Recollections of a Southern Matron, which mentions "Hopping John", defined, in a note, as "bacon and rice", as early as 1838.[10][11]
The origins of the name are uncertain. One possibility is that the name is a corruption of the Haitian Creole term for black-eyed peas: pwapijon (pronounced[pwapiˈʒɔ̃]), literally meaning "pigeon peas" in English, but referring not to the variety known as pigeon peas in English but rather what are called black-eyed peas in English. The Haitian Creole term pwa pijon is a cognate of the French term poispigeon.
Hoppin' John originated from the Gullah people and was originally a Lowcountry one-pot dish before spreading to the entire population of the South. Hoppin' John may have evolved from rice and bean mixtures that were the subsistence of enslaved West Africans en route to the Americas.[12] Hoppin' John has been further traced to similar foods in West Africa,[9] in particular the Senegalese dish thiebou niebe.[13]
One tradition common in the United States is that each person at the meal should leave three peas on their plate to ensure that the New Year will be filled with luck, fortune and romance.[citation needed] Another tradition holds that counting the number of peas in a serving predicts the amount of luck, or wealth, that the diner will have in the coming year.[citation needed]OnSapelo Island in the community of Hog Hammock, Geechee red peas are used instead of black-eyed peas. Sea Island red peas are similar.[14]
American chef Sean Brock claims that traditional Hoppin' John was made with Carolina Gold rice, once thought to be extinct, and Sea Island red peas. He has worked with farmers to re-introduce this variety of rice. As of 2017, several rice growers offer Carolina Gold rice.[15]
Other bean and rice dishes are seen in Southern Louisiana and in the Caribbean, and are often associated with African culinary influence in the Americas. Regional variants include the Guyanese dish "cook-up rice", which uses black-eyed peas and coconut milk; "Hoppin' Juan," which substitutes Cuban black beans for black-eyed peas; the Peruvian tacu-tacu; and the Brazilian dish baião-de-dois, which often uses black-eyed peas.[citation needed]
^Hoppin John What's cooking America.Another name for it is Stew Peas
^"On New Year's Day, it gets the full Southern treatment, which usually means Hoppin' John – a traditional Soul Food fixin' consisting of F peas cooked with ham hocks and spices, served over rice. In the South, eating field-peas on New Year's is thought to bring prosperity" Celebrate New Year's with Field- peasArchived 18 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine by Rachel Ellner 31 December 2008 Nashua Telegraph
^"'Eat poor on New Year's and eat fat the rest of the year,' echoed the refrain...A shiny dime is often thrown into the Hoppin' John cooking pot and the person getting the dime in their bowl is due an extra portion of good luck." Field Peas: New Year's good-luck foods by Mick Vann 26 December 2008 Food section Austin Chronicle
^"Collard greens (or kale, chard, mustard, or turnip greens) symbolize money in the South" Beyond Field - Peas: New Year's good-luck foods by Mick Vann 26 December 2008 Food section Austin Chronicle
^"On the day after New Year's Day, leftover "Hoppin' John" becomes "Skippin' Jenny" and eating it demonstrates powerful frugality, bringing one even better chances of prosperity." Beyond Black-Eyed Peas: New Year's good-luck foods by Mick Vann 26 December 2008 Food section Austin Chronicle
^Sarah, Rutledge (1979) [Reprint of 1847 edition]. "Hopping John". The Carolina Housewife. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press. p. 83. ISBN0872493830. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
^ abTwitty, Michael W. (2011). "Hoppin' John". In Katz-Hyman, Martha B.; Rice, Kym S. (eds.). World of a slave. Santa Barbara, California: Greenwood. pp. 280–281. ISBN9780313349447. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
^Thornton, Richard H (1912). "Hopping John". An American Glossary. Vol. 1. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott company. p. 449. LCCN30025356. Retrieved 3 January 2013.