Black-eyed peas tops New Year’s menu at Fox Hall Print
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Written by Doug Carder   
Wednesday, 31 December 2008 09:00

Eating black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day for good luck is a time-honored tradition that’s nearly as old as the American South.

Louisburg residents will have a chance to partake in this tradition and help local needy families at the same time by attending the first “Eat Your Black-Eyed Peas on New Year’s Day for Good Luck” feast from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Thursday at Fox Hall. The black-eyed pea meal, sponsored by Chris Cakes and Apple Electric, is free to the public. The event’s organizers are accepting monetary donations, which will go the Agape Christian Center food pantry in Louisburg.

“It is a known fact that eating black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day will bring you a year of good luck, and with the way the economy is going, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to start it off right,” Chris Cakes owner Steve Hamilton said.
Hamilton said the black-eyed pea dinner is for a good cause.

“We will keep all donations in town to help a few families that need an extra hand,” he said.

The menu will consist of black-eyed peas, homemade smoked ham and other seasonings, corn bread, drinks and dessert.

“Mark your calendar, tell your friends, drag your relatives along, whatever it takes — just be sure to get your share of good luck for 2009,” Hamilton wrote in an e-mail promoting the New Year’s Day meal, which organizers hope to make an annual event.

Louisburg resident Sylvia Bostick believes the tradition does bring good luck.

“My mother was from North Carolina, and we always had black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day,” Bostick said. “I have carried on the tradition, and now my kids are doing the same.”

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