A staple of the Southern table, Hoppin' John is famously eaten on New Year's Day, but is just as good any other day as well.
Cooking the beans and meat with the rice infuses flavor into every grain., and probably even more versions of the recipe. I grew up in the Deep South, where Hoppin’ John—a dish made with rice and peas—was always served on New Year's Day alongside our greens and cornbread. But it wasn’t relegated to just that one day of the year.
I’d also noticed that we—people from the Low Countries of Georgia, South Carolina, and other nearby areas—made rice that had more color to it because we used field peas to make our Hoppin’ John. Often called “Southern peas,” field peas are black-eyed peas' close cousins; both are, though the naming and classification can get confusing since different regions use the terms differently, and frequently interchangeably.
It took some time for me to learn there was a reason why most people now use black-eyed peas instead of field peas. During the Great Migration out of the Deep South by Black folks, people still carried their traditions, even when they couldn’t carry the ingredients. Cowpeas of all shapes, sizes, and colors are found across the country, but these very specific field peas were only found in the South.
I’ve even seen vegetarian versions done that don’t include any smoked meat at all, and instead the the grains and legumes get their flavor from simmering the peas in vegetable broth.
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