I had my traditional black-eyed peas with pork hocks and cornbread. Mmmmmmm... It's a very tasty tradition.

From what I've read the tradition dates back to the Civil War. The Northern soldiers raided the South's food supplies one New Year's Eve night and took all the food except for the dried black-eyed peas and the salted pork. On New Year's day, all that the southern soldiers had to eat were the peas and pork to keep them alive, so it is considered good luck to eat black-eyed peas on New Year's because of this event.

Par...