Black-eyed Peas, Collard Greens and Cornbread

Black-eyed peas, collard greens, cornbread, hawg jowl, and hawg tail sounds like granny’s menu for Uncle Jed, Jethro, and Ellie Mae on The Beverly Hillbillies. In reality is was the smell of New Year’s Day dinner by the Hopper family. It is a family tradition of the South. Grannie Hopper and Grandmoe Chapman were connoisseurs of Southern cuisine.

The black-eyed peas ensured that families would have plenty of coins. Collards meant folding money and cornbread meant gold. Some folks call it “Soul Food.” Well, as a history major it is “Poor Irish Food.” In Alabama, home to many Scot-Isish immigrants, Native Americans (Indians) taught Scot Irish how to cook indigenous vegetation such as cornbread and greens. Greens could be dandelions, pokeweed, or wild lettuce.

My University of Montevallo history professor read an early journal written by Irish that settled in Alabama. The journal described a family meal. When he read it most students said it sounded like soul food. Dr. Fuller said it was Irish. Africans were hunter-gathers, and the Indians taught the Irish which taught the Blacks how cook. Bottom line it is the poor people’s meal. Poor is not a respecter of color.

Granny Hopper was a sharecropping widow raising nine children during the Great Depression. Daddy said that when they killed a “hawg” they only thing they threw away was the squeal. They ate all the meat, used the hair for mattress stuffing, and bones for fertilizer. I have helped Granny “sling” the guts (chitterlings) when we killed hogs.

Grandmoe Chapman was faithful to cook black eyed peas, turnip greens, and cornbread. During the Great Depression, mamma said Grandmoe cooked racoon and opossum. It was special when the had hawg jowl to flavor the peas and greens. Grandmoe’s specialty was hawg head cheese. When we killed hogs, she wanted the hog’s head to make it. I never ate it on New Year’s Day or any other time. I didn’t eat chitterlings either.

Yankees had black-eyed peas to feed livestock. Southern soldiers cooked them to survive. Peas eaten with Johnnie or hoecake (cornbread) was a staple during the War of Northern Aggression. After the War of Northern Aggression, poverty-stricken Southerners ate the peas, greens, and cornbread as a sigh of resilience and hope.

After decades of eating black-eyed peas, I never saw many coins even though daddy received “pennies” from unemployment several Christmas’s and New Years. Collars, turnip greens, and mustard were delicious with homemade pepper sauce and pone crackling cornbread, but we never saw much folding money and no gold. We always had hope.

As 2025 draws to a close, let us have hope and share it. God blesses the United States, and we take if for granted. We waste so much in a world that needs so much. Lisa will prepare black-eyed peas, turnip greens, and cornbread laced with bacon grease for New’s Year Day. I’d rather grill some hawg. My reasoning is that pigs eat peas, turnip greens, and cornbread and by me eating pig I will have them converted into chops, ribs, or tenderloin.

For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good: but me ye have not always. Mark 14:7 KJV

“Give Thanks” is one of my favorite songs. It has the line which says, “let the weak say, “I am strong” Let the poor say, “I am rich” rooted Joel 3:10 KJV

 “Let the poor say I am rich” shows the importance of gratitude and perspective. It reminds that true wealth is not just measured by material possessions but by our relationship with God and our attitude towards life.

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11 KJV

As 2025 shifts to 2026 and we make all the adjustments for a new beginning hope and resilience will help us face the uncertainties of life. With Jesus we have new beginnings, hope, and help.

Happy New Year tell a friend if you enjoy the blog.

                                                                

 

 

Hoppers and Yankees

 In 2012, the extended Hopper family spent New Year’s Eve celebrating our Christmas.  This year it was my turn to host the extravaganza because there are five of us, we all take turns hosting Christmas. This year I decided to host it at our home in Chilton County rather than in Linden. 

There were a couple of reasons for the location change.  One is that we all have homes in the Chilton/Bibb county area even though one brother lives in Robertsdale and I in Linden.

Second, I did not know if Marengo County or the City of Linden could endure more than three Hoppers.  Third, my home/farm has enough room for frying fish, shrimp, and oysters, riding four wheelers, shooting fireworks, and parking cars.

It is hard to imagine that Mom and Dad started what has become a large extended family.  I watched in wonder as my nephew’s little boy Mason explored my backyard.  The wonder was not his exploration, but his importance.  Mason is the first male Hopper great grandchild.  He is not the first great grandchild or the first great grandchild male, but he is the first Hopper male.  As I held Mason in my arms, it was a defining moment.  The oldest male Hopper, holding the heir to the Hopper name.  A baby of the 1950’s was holding a new millennium baby.  The new replacing the old.  The thought of one who is in the final stages of his time is now holding the one who has yet to make a complete sentence.  What made the whole episode special was as I held Mason he wanted a drink of my root beer.  I gave him a sip and he confiscated my whole cup.  He teased me by giving it back only to want another sip.  As I put him down, he walked away with my root beer.

That is the way of life, new replacing the old.  With that thought, I can’t help but think of a humorous incident that happened on Tuesday before New Year Eve.

We had a rendezvous with friends from Llano, Texas at Gulf shores after Christmas.  Our rendezvous point was the Waffle House in Gulf Shores.  I don’t particularly care for the Gulf, but winter makes it nice.  It’s not too hot, the shore is deserted, and the restaurants are very available.

It is always terrific to see our friends, so we gathered at the tables beside the high bar.  For those who do not know, booths are not made for real men.  Every restaurant where we went in Gulf Shores, I requested a table.  I want to be conformable when I eat.  I usually eat at the high bar at Waffle House, but when with more than three friends, I try to eat at a table for collective talking.

While there, Waffle House began to fill with snowbirds, which are Yankees or people from “Up North.”  I do not know why, but for some reason people from “Up North” enjoy Southern hospitality, but they have never acquired any for themselves.

After enjoying a wonderful breakfast and catching up how everybody was doing and the adventures of traveling, I decided to pay the bill for breakfast.  I learned a long time ago in Union work that the meal to buy everyone is breakfast.  Dinner and supper are more expensive.

Everyone continued to share old times and drink coffee, water, or orange juice.  As I waited for the waitress, I noticed that a snowbird roosted in my sit.  Now mind you, I was not finished with my coffee.  The snowbird sat down between my son Aaron and our friend Ruby.  Mrs. Ruby, my dear friend from Llano, did not know that I had gone to pay the bill.  From the corner of her eye, she saw a glass of water sliding toward her plate.  She was startled when she turned to see a strange snowbird in my place.  To Aaron’s right, a female snowbird sat in an empty seat.  Another snowbird, with his hands on the back of the chair, stood over Aaron.  You talk about an awkward moment.  I have had some very interesting visits to the Waffle House, but his one takes the cake, or I guess you could say takes the waffle.  I am glad that Aaron is a gentle giant and has a soft spot for people “who don’t know no better” or there may have been an injured snowbird in the Waffle House.

As Aaron looked up at the snowbird, the snowbird asked if the seat was warm.  I know snowbirds come South to escape harsh winters, but taking a young man’s, and his dad’s, seat is RUDE.  Scaring an eighty-year-old woman from Llano is dim-witted.  The moral of the story is that there is always someone waiting to take your place whether you are finished or not.  If we live long enough we will see many more New Years.

 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new (Second Corinthians 5:17 KJV).

. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new (Revelation 21:5 KJV).

Since 2012 Mason has been joined by a brother Gavin, a cousin Clark, and a cousin coming in the spring named Jesse James Hopper.  Long live the Hoppers.  We do have cousins in Illinois and my brother David was born in Wisconsin.

Collard Greens, Hawg Jowl, Cornbread, and Black-eyed Peas

Now that we have had time for our hawg jowl and blacked-eyed peas, cornbread, and collared greens to digest, how are our New Year’s resolutions coming? 

Momma always served the poor folks meal in hopes that the peas would bring more pennies and the collards would bring more dollars.  They never did but we did enjoy the food even though daddy said that cooking collards smelled as bad as a dead person did.

New Year’s resolutions usually last as long as the first piece of red velvet last with a cup of coffee.  They last less than trip to the gym and much shorter than the soreness from the exercise.

Have you ever thought who started resolutions?  New Year is the oldest of all holidays.  Ancient Babylon observed it about 4000 years ago. Around 2000 BC, the Babylonian New Year began with the first New Moon or Vernal Equinox (first day of spring).  The beginning of spring is a logical time to start a new year since it is the season of rebirth, of planting new crops, and of blossoming. January 1, on the other hand, has no astronomical or agricultural significance. It is purely arbitrary.

“The tradition of the New Year's Resolutions goes all the way back to 153 B.C. Janus, a mythical king of early Rome was placed at the head of the calendar. With two faces, Janus could look back on past events and forward to the future. Janus became the ancient symbol for resolutions and many Romans looked for forgiveness from their enemies and also exchanged gifts before the beginning of each year.
The New Year has not always begun on January 1, and it doesn't begin on that date everywhere today. It begins on that date only for cultures that use a 365-day solar calendar. January 1 became the beginning of the New Year in 46 B.C., when Julius Caesar developed a calendar that would more accurately reflect the seasons than previous calendars had.
The Romans named the first month of the year after Janus, the god of beginnings and the guardian of doors and entrances. He was always depicted with two faces, one on the front of his head and one on the back. Thus he could look backward and forward at the same time. At midnight on December 31, the Romans imagined Janus looking back at the old year and forward to the new. The Romans began a tradition of exchanging gifts on New Year's Eve by giving one another branches from sacred trees for good fortune. (answerbag.com/q_view/39353)
In the Middle Ages, Christians changed New Year's Day to December 25, the birth of Jesus. Then they changed it to March 25, a holiday called the Annunciation. In the sixteenth century, Pope Gregory XIII revised the Julian calendar, and the celebration of the New Year was returned to January 1.”

Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.  (Philippians 3:13-14 KJV)

Black-eyed peas and hawg jowl, collard greens, and cornbread are good food to eat, but as believers, our spiritual nourishment comes from God’s Word.  Resolutions are made to break, while sacrifice last.  There is no good luck, but God marvelous grace and the opportunity to press forward.

"Good Old Boys"

Well the Christmas holidays are over and a new year is underway.  Many have already broken their New Year Resolutions.  Personally, the person who devised New Year resolutions needs to be whipped.  Resolutions are too quickly broken.  Resolutions need to remain the devices of government and the legislative process or annual meetings, not New Year vows made after a party.

The best thing about parties is the food, the fun, and the fellowship.  The worse thing is preparation, dealing with uncouth people, and cleaning up the mess.  A very good friend said that having company is like fish, after three days its starts stinking.  Uncouth people ruin parties.

I am reminded of two friends from the University of Montevallo who were uncouth.  Mike and Enos were a couple of “good old boys” never meaning no harm.  Mike was Italian.  He was very short, very athletic, and very industrious for a retired man.  He was climbing and trimming trees well into his seventies.  Enos was your average “Bubba” with his pants low, shirttail out, large belly shining, and ball cap.

Mike and Enos were sanitation specialists.  They had one of the most intriguing jobs at the University.  They ran the garbage truck.  Watching them everyday was like watching a comedy sitcom.  They knew everything going on around campus.  You might say they were the University garbologists.

It was never difficult to locate Mike and Enos.  All one had to do was to use the sense of sight or smell to follow the garbage juice that dripped from the truck.  The trail usually led to the cafeteria or to the baseball field.  They loved cookies and baseball and were friends of the head of the cafeteria and the baseball coach.

People liked to joke with Mike and Enos.  Enos was single, never married.  One day one of the boys from the carpenter shop asked Enos if he was a virgin.  Enos replied, “No, I’m Church of Christ.”  Enos was a tad slow mentally.

The president of the University retired and the University spent a hunk of money on his farewell party.  Dignitaries filled the campus.  The cafeteria prepared a feast fit for kings.  Tents, podiums, and seats filled with people at the baseball stadium.  Everyone loved the president because he treated everyone the same.  He knew every University worker by his or her first name.

Mike and Enos were out making their rounds when they realized that it was time for the big shindig.  In haste, they made their way to the baseball stadium.  They pulled the garbage truck up the big tent were all the dignitaries from all over the state of Alabama had ascended that day.

Mike and Enos hopped out of the truck, walked into the tent, and started giving their farewell condolences to the president.  Suit and ties met jumpsuits and boots.  Those with expensive cologne and perfume mingled with those of sour milk and rotting stench.  The clean-shaven and manicured rubbed elbows with the scraggly bearded and dirty finger nailed as the garbage truck dripped its putrid and malodorous juices just inches from the gourmet spread for kings.

As Mike and Enos helped themselves to the cuisine of the elite, the head of the Grounds department and Deans of College scampered to catch the fainting and rescue the nauseous.  Embarrassment rolled as a loose garbage can blowing in the wind.

Finally, the Head of the Grounds Department asked Mike and Enos to move the truck.  Mike and Enos, as happy as pigs in slop, jumped into the truck and continued their rounds.  The celebration ended more quickly than everyone anticipated.  Gone were Mike and Enos, but in their place flies buzzed over the putrid and malodorous juices left behind for everyone to enjoy.

When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him; and he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room. But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee (Luke 14:8-10 KJV).