My immediate family never made a thing of having a special New Years meal, but the older I get, the more people I hear talking about them. Do you do anything special for a meal on New Years?

 

Pork & Cabbage/Pork & Sauerkraut

Black-Eyed Peas & Greens

Hoppin' John (Black Eyed Peas & Rice)

Lentils/Lentil Soup

Potlikker Soup (Ham Hocks & Greens in Broth)

Fish

My dad has made corned beef reuben sandwiches on New Year's Day for as long as I can remember.

 

I've fallen into the unfortunate pattern of going out for dinner on New Year's Eve, which is all fun and games until the bill arrives.

Pork & Sauerkraut is the one I hear most frequently. But I also have an aunt who's Japanese, and she always does fish as a New Years tradition "because a fish only swims forward". A symbolic thing, apparently. It must be something in Asian culture, because my Vietnamese neighbor does the same.

Pork

Hoppin John

Cornbread

Mom used to fix cabbage, black eyed peas, ham hocks or jowls and I was forced to eat it. I took one very small bite of each and then filled up on cornbread and butter.

You have to eat something green so that you will have a lot of “greenbacks” in the new year.

You have to eat something green so that you will have a lot of “greenbacks” in the new year.

 

With current meds, I am not supposed to eat much greenery...I'll stick with a few green M&M's for money luck!

New Year's Day is a football marathon, and it comes equipped with Chili, Wings, cheesesticks, tater skins, a veggie tray, a fruit tray, hanky-panky, pizza rolls, and the like! An unhealthy, but glorious, day of dudes watching football and eating apps for about 12 hours.

You have to eat something green so that you will have a lot of “greenbacks” in the new year.

The cornbread is for gold. But we also eat greens.

No hog jowl and black-eyed peas? And you folks call yourselves country.

With current meds, I am not supposed to eat much greenery...I'll stick with a few green M&M's for money luck!

I’m positive that will work just as well!

What are hoppin John and hanky-panky? Don't believe I've ever heard of those before.

It's always been pork and sour kraut in our house.

What are hanky-panky? Don't believe I've ever heard of those before.

That is surprising to me. I'll let one of the foodies provide you their recipe as I'm sure I'm not the only one that makes them, and mine likely aren't the best. But the short version is this:

 

They are cheesy ground beef and sausage spread over a toasted slice of snack rye bread. They are yummy!!

 

Dad always does ribs and sauerkraut. I usually go over for a day of football and ice cold beverages.