Hoppin’ John
 
From: cscitizen@windstream.net
To: dholloway@al.com
 
http://freenorthcarolina.blogspot.com/2013/12/hoppin-john.html
 
Mr. Holloway,
                      
I enjoyed your story about eating Hoppin’ John on New Year’s Day. Here`s the rest of the story & the reason why southerners eat this on Jan. 1st. When Gen. Sherman`s army was marching across the south they burned all food supplies that the Confederate Army or civilians might use.
  
However, they did not burn the pea field`s as they thought peas were only a fodder food for slaves & livestock. Where it not for this yankee oversight even more southern families might have starved to death. While I enjoyed your story please tell the rest of it, why southerners eat black-eyed peas & greens on New Years Day.
  
It’s a passover celebration of sorts in remembrance of our holocaust in the south.
 
Billy Price