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These New Year's day foods are said to bring good luck, health and wealth

Your first meal on New Year's Day should include collard greens, black-eyed peas, pork and cornbread. They’re said to bring good health, wealth and luck.
Credit: warren_price - stock.adobe.com
New year good luck meal, black-eyed peas, collard, pork, corn bread

KENTUCKY, USA — On New Year’s Day in the south, it’s all about what you eat that some say can set you up for a successful year. That means your meal on New Year's Day should include collard greens, black-eyed peas, pork and cornbread. They’re said to bring good health, wealth and luck.

In some southern states, the meal is also called Hoppin' John.

It isn’t quite clear when or why these foods became New Year’s Day staples, but according to History.com, the first recipes for hoppin’ John appear in cookbooks that date back to the 1840s, although the mixture of dried peas, rice and pork was made by enslaved people in the South long before then. It seems to have originated in the Low Country of South Carolina.

The legume originated from West Africa and has often been included in meals for special occasions. Many believe the swelling of the cooked bean symbolizes the increasing of good fortunes.

Here are the New Year’s Day classics and what they are said to represent:

Credit: lindahughes - stock.adobe.com

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