There’s nothing that heralds the New Year like a delicious mouthwatering ‘mess’ of black-eyed peas and cabbage. The pungent aroma of simmering cabbage swimming in bacon grease and black-eyed peas cooked with an infusion of pork are both banner foods for the upcoming year’s prosperity, strength, and good luck- or so the old saying goes. The American roots of such fare can specifically be traced to Louisiana, particularly around the New Orleans area, then reaching into other parts of the State, but the real origin of these practice go back much farther.