Hoppin' John

A classic Southern dish, hoppin' John is a hearty combination of rice, black-eyed peas, and ham hock or bacon. Even though the dish is consumed throughout the year, it is typically served on New Year's Day due to the fact that a lot of Southerners believe that eating black-eyed peas on the first day of the year will bring prosperity and good luck.

The peas represent pennies or coins, and a real coin is often placed under the bowls. Hoppin' John is often accompanied by cabbage, representing wealth, since it is the color of the US currency, and those who eat it will supposedly earn more money in the following year than those who don't indulge in it.

The origin of the dish is still shrouded in mystery, but some claim it stems from Louisiana, where the French Creole name for pigeon peas is pois a pigeon, pronounced "pwah peejon", which sounds similar to hoppin' John to the Southerners.

The name has stuck since the early 1800s, but if the leftovers are eaten on the first day of the New Year, it's called skippin' Jenny, showing one's frugality and bringing even greater chances of prosperity in the New Year.