Verified in 2 cities.
Hoppin' John is a signature dish of United States; we have verified places to eat it in Charleston and Savannah. Carolina Gold rice cooked with field peas (or black-eyed peas), bacon and onion.
Carolina Gold rice cooked with field peas (or black-eyed peas), bacon and onion. The New Year's Day dish for luck, eaten year-round in Charleston.
Hoppin' John is a Gullah-Geechee staple of West African origin, brought to the Sea Islands and Carolina rice plantations through the trans-Atlantic slave trade. The earliest printed recipe appears in Sarah Rutledge's 1847 Charleston cookbook The Carolina Housewife. Traditional versions use Sea Island red peas or field peas with Carolina Gold rice, slow-cooked with smoked ham hock. The plate is eaten on New Year's Day across the South for prosperity, paired with collards (for money) and cornbread. Glenn Roberts at Anson Mills in Columbia has spent thirty years restoring heirloom Carolina Gold rice; that rice now anchors versions at Husk and FIG.
Where to eat in Charleston:
Where to eat Hoppin' John in Charleston: the editor picks
Sea Island peas (cowpeas) simmered with Carolina Gold rice, smoked pork (hock or bacon) and onion. A simple, deeply seasoned one-pot served on New Year's Day for luck.
Hoppin' John is one of the foundational Gullah Geechee dishes, built around the West African staples of rice and cowpeas (black-eyed or Sea Island peas) that enslaved cooks brought to the coastal Lowcountry. The New Year's tradition (a plate at noon on January 1 for the year ahead) is universal across Lowcountry households. The name's origin is debated; the cooking is not.
Where to eat in Savannah:
Where to eat Hoppin' John in Savannah: the editor picks
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Guided tour · 2.5 hours
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