The Stew is in the pot

Black eyed peas, boiled with bay leaves, simmered with beef, and seasoned with red pepper flakes, salt, celery seed, fennel seed and black pepper. It smells so good. It also reminds me of the upcoming Mardi Gras season. I love food because each dish delicately reflects on the area that it came from, mixed with each cooks personal attributes. The kitchen is bubbling. I wanted to find something to cook, and I did. Also the slow cooker is filled with onions, potatoes and corned beef. A fitting feast,to begin the season of Irish Culture. Of course, I am making my favorite boiled peanuts, just like they sell in every southern establishment. My personal favorite is seasoned with Tabasco, dill brine and pepper. It has to boil for over four hours for it to reach the right tenderness, of course.
So here is the history and anthropology part...because everything has a history and a future.
Black eyed peas-George Washington Carver was not only the father of the peanut but also a proponent of the black eyed pea. Not the band!!! Did you know he was born at the end of slavery? Yes, and while still enslaved outlaws stole Carver and his mother away , however, Union officials were able to retrieve them and bring them back to Carver's father, Moses. About the peas, they are actually related to cowpeas, and it was the slave trade that brought them to America. See all the history!!! All I had to do was add rice to the dish and it would have become the traditional Hoppin John! During the New Year, it is said that if a person eats Hoppin John, it will bring them good luck all the year through. I did not eat Hoppin John this year...During the Civil War, peas and such were considered fodder for livestock. Thus, it was a slave food.
Corned Beef- Not a traditional dish of Ireland, where they prefer Lamb to the end brisket of beef, it made it's way to Immigrants, because of its cheapness. Many a tenement home wafted the smell of corned beef which has become a staple of Irish -America.
Boiled Peanuts- Southern Style- Most places sell these, and I got addicted to them the first trip my parents took to Virginia. It was a legume flavor, very earth and spicy. I loved it, plus I like the texture, pasty. Most people that I talked to when I lived in Kansas liked them. I used to by Cajun boiled peanuts from Sugarfoot and Peaches down the street from my home. I loved them even more when I was pregnant. The Smithsonian released an article on some displaced southern brothers, who have made a living out of selling boiled peanuts, poke salet, scuppernogs and more. What is Poke Salet? What is a Scuppernog?
Well you will have to stay tuned my hungry feeders.....