Although I lived in Atlanta for the past 20 years, I grew up in the South Carolina lowcountry north of Charleston in a little place called Pawley’s Island. On New Year’s day the people in that part of the world make a dish for supper called Hoppin’ John. I left that tradition behind when I went off to college, but in recent years I’ve taken it up again.
Hoppin’ John is a simple dish consisting mostly of some sort of field peas (we preferred cow peas at Pawley’s) and rice. Like most dishes, there are variations. There were a couple of things we didn’t vary, however. First, we always served it with collard greens. Second, other than the salt pork traditionally uses to prepare the meal, we never served any meat with it.
Hoppin’ John originated as a dish for poor people, which explains the lack of meat. Lowcountry people weren’t wealthy, but they weren’t without a sense of optimism either. They said that the dish brought prosperity when you ate it on New Year’s day. They said that the collards symbolized greenbacks and the coppery colored cow peas symbolized pennies.
I might have been the only person in all of Uptown Dallas to buy salt pork at the Albertson’s yesterday, and it’s a long way from here to the lowcountry. No mind. I’ve already got a good feeling about 2008.
