If New Year’s Eve is about celebration, New Year’s Day is imbued with superstition. Every year on January 1, a peculiar assortment of historic rituals are performed as a way to invite good fortune for the next 365 days. One such auspicious practice that’s stood the test of time? Feasting upon black-eyed peas. This tradition is meant to bring good luck, wealth, and prosperity, and is ubiquitous throughout the Southern United States. But why? As with most cultural traditions—particularly those surrounding cooking—its origin story is nuanced (more on that ahead). If you care to begin your 2026 on an optimistic tone, preparing a pot of black-eyed peas is a delicious way to do it.
What Are Black-Eyed Peas?
Despite their misleading moniker, black-eyed peas are a type of bean (or cowpea). This pale, kidney-shaped bean is named as such because of a distinctive black spot that resembles an eye. Black-eyed peas are native to West Africa and arrived to the US by way of the transatlantic slave trade. Enslaved West Africans cultivated these beans, which is why they’ve become such a significant fixture in Southern cuisine.
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Why Do People Eat Black-Eyed Peas on New Year’s?
Black-eyed peas are enjoyed on New Year’s Day as a way to invite good fortune and prosperity. The beans represent coins, the greens they are served with symbolize paper money, and cornbread is for gold. Black-eyed peas are also traditionally cooked with pork, which signifies progress because pigs root forward.
Where Did the Tradition Originate?
The origin story of eating black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day is not cut and dry. But working through the nuances is key to appreciating this culinary tradition. In essence: black-eyed peas are native to West Africa and arrived to the Southern United States through the forced migration of Africans. Within their native continent, these beans were often eaten on special occasions, such as the birth of a child, and were also linked to warding off the evil eye. They weren’t, however, consumed on New Year’s Day as a way to invite good luck.
The practice of New Year’s Day superstitions comes from Europe, including those who migrated to the Southern US. (They also come from Central and South America in destinations like Brazil where jumping seven waves to honor a sea goddess is practiced.) At some point, these two traditions coalesced and by the 19th century, eating black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day for good luck was commonplace. As culinary historian Michael Twitty explains in a black-eyed peas cooking tutorial, the practice is European, but the vehicle is African.
