Black eye peas always means Hoppin John to me, which is a Scottish dish traditionally served on New Years Eve, I believe. But that shouldn't be surprising, considering the strong ties in the south between the Scots, slaves, and the influences of Scots church music on African American gospel music as a result of their close proximity to one another (while keeping segregated "discreet" distance between the communities at the same time).

We now make our Hoppin John with a nice veggie Italian sausage, along with organic rainbow chard for the greens, and bake a nice spagetti squash to go with it instead of the traditional rutabagas (also a southern tradition according to my mother, who wasn't from the South, nor knew anyone who was, but loved rutabagas while we all hated them). We also have it with cranberries and pumpkin pie. It's quite a tasty, stick to your ribs sort of New Years meal.