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FOOD, ETC.

go for the
Greens (and other sage advice for the new year)

BY KELVIN CULBRETH
PHOTOS BY CINDY BURNHAM

Gina Lewis of Fayetteville, a vegetarian, prepared this black-eyed peas and collards casserole.
We look at the new year as a chance for redemption — a shot at “finally getting it right.”

And many of us will believe any superstition or take part in any goofy ritual to help ensure that this is the big year we’ve been longing for.

So, in the spirit of new beginnings, we searched the Internet and found these suggestions that, according to tradition or old wives, promise to make 2004 the best ever:

• Replace your broom. You should do this every year to get rid of all the negative energy that gets trapped in it.
• Don’t put up a calendar early or write in next year’s diary before the new year.
• Don’t do laundry. Some believe that washing laundry on New Year’s Day washes away good luck.
• Make sure you start the New Year with a smooch for your significant other. Otherwise, you set the stage for a year of coldness.
• Make sure you have a few dollars in your wallet. If it’s empty on New Year’s Day, it will be empty for the rest of the year.
• Take nothing out of the house. Absolutely nothing — not even garbage — is to leave the house on the first day of the year.
• Stock up. Don’t allow your cupboards to be bare when the new year begins or that’s the way they’ll be for the rest of the year.
• Try to eat fish on New Year’s Day. If you eat chicken or the like, you’ll be scratching all year for your food. If you eat beef, your year will be filled with beefs. Eat fish and you’ll swim along happily with no problems.
• Eat collards or other greens any old time! The leaves symbolize folded money.
• And the most important tradition of all ... eat black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day!
  According to the history books, black-eyed peas are an ancient African crop that arrived on this continent via ships carrying slaves around 1700. By the turn of the 20th century, George Washington Carver, the famous African-American agricultural chemist, was promoting black-eyed peas as an excellent food for man and animals, as well as a plant that enriched farm soil with nitrogen.

Black-eyed peas often find their way into a good-luck dish called Hoppin’ John, a hearty mixture of black-eyed peas, rice, and salt pork or bacon. They’ve been a Southern staple for more than 300 years and have long been associated with good luck.

Some say if you put a dime in the pot while your black-eyed peas are cooking, it will bring good fortune (including money!).

So here are some recipes to try. And here’s hoping they help bring you prosperity in the coming year. [deleted the recipe]

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