Like the staple food of many southern dishes, black-eyed peas were brought to North America by enslaved Africans through the Atlantic slave trade. Slaves planted small crops in rice fields, and they were forced to work and harvest by themselves. According to food historians, they have time to use beans in celebration dishes when they are not busy with farm work in winter, which may be the reason why it is associated with the festival of 1.
One legend attributed beans' lucky reputation to the Civil War. According to this story, when the federal troops attacked the southern farm, they ignored the black-eyed pea garden because they thought it was feed for livestock (hence the name cowpea). With no other crops to eat, southerners rely on unaffected black-eyed peas for winter.
For centuries, black chefs have been using skills to upgrade simple ingredients into rich and luxurious dishes. The most common way to eat black-eyed peas in the New Year is at Hoppin' John, a traditional southern recipe that mixes beans with rice and bacon. This dish is usually used as a part of the New Year's feast. Green leafy vegetables represent paper money and corn bread symbolizes gold. Other food-related superstitions include eating at least 365 beans on the first day of the New Year and leaving three on your plate for good luck.
The southern part of the United States is one of the regions in the world that eat beans for good luck in the New Year. Some Italians eat lentils because they look like coins, while Spanish Jews eat black-eyed peas in Jewish New Year, which may also affect the tradition of American New Year.