Why We Eat Black-Eyed PEAS on New Year's Day (The Southern Way)

On the first day of the year, that plate was not just dinner - it was a wish you could eat. The black-eyed peas were coins, the greens were folding money, and the cornbread was gold. Every bite was asking for a better year, and every grandmother who put that plate down was saying the same thing without a word: may you have enough, and then some. We go through the whole plate end to end: where the black-eyed pea came from to begin with, what each food on the plate means, how to cook the peas so they swell and make liquor, the greens and their pot liquor, the cornbread that goes in last, the little traditions that rode along - the dime in the pot, Hoppin' John, the first serving - where the plate goes wrong, how to make it your own, and how to time three pots so everything lands together. In this video: 1.A wish you could eat - what the New Year plate was really saying 2.Where the peas came from - the black-eyed pea's long road to the Southern table 3.The meaning on the plate - coins, bills and gold 4.Cooking the peas like they matter, and the greens and their liquor 5.The gold out of the skillet - cornbread goes in last 6.The traditions that rode along - the dime, Hoppin' John, the first serving 7.Where the plate goes wrong, making it your own, and timing three pots Did your table set the New Year plate? Tell me what yours looked like.