Day 800: 5 Minute Freewrite: Sunday - Prompt: Black-eyed peas
Nathan Turner was full of black-eyed peas seasoned with onions, garlic, bell peppers, and smoked turkey necks as he went to drop in on Captain H.F. Lee, new interim commander of the Blue Ridge Station of the police force of Big Loft, VA.
Black-eyed peas are traditionally served as part of African American New Year food tradition – they are thought to represent good luck in the new year for the family and community sharing them, and are seasoned in a variety of ways depending on the region the recipes come from. Salt pork is common, as are pig feet and ham hocks (pig ankles, basically), along with savory spices and vegetables; those concerned about cholesterol sometimes swap the pork for smoked turkey and amp up the savory vegetables.
Although black-eyed peas are traditional for New Year, Mrs. Ella Varick, Mr. Turner's aunt and wife of the editor-in-chief of the Lofton County Free Voice, often brought black-eyed peas to whatever meetings there were when the Free Voice was about to break a big story.
“New Year comes once a year, but by your hard work, you are creating a new county and a new life for us every day,” she said, and filled up the bowls for the editors and reporters.
So: Mr. Turner was well-prepared with both nutrition and the formidable force of cultural support as he went up to meet the formidable H.F. Lee, and his formidable information. Not that Mr. Turner and the Free Voice were about to be as surprised as most of the county and the world's readers would be – and not that Captain Lee, whom he knew and respected, intimidated him at all. But it still helped to be reinforced in advance, and maintaining all the folkways of Black people and using them at key moments was essential.
(The rest of the story for today ... had to keep going with these black-eyed peas ... check out part 2)
Photo by Jasmine Waheed on Unsplash
Hi. I love how you take each of the prompts and weave them into your series. Once inserted, they are such a natural continuation. I have my own black-eyed pea story I'm working on.
Have a great day.
Why thank you -- I appreciate that ... one of my senior church members was asking about whether I was cooking black-eyed peas for New Year, so the tradition was already on my mind, and I have even a bit more to write on this part of the story ... Mr. Turner comes from inside the tradition and is sustained by it .... Captain Lee was once brought inside, but through becoming a widower and by being identified with the enemies of those who hold the traditions, he feels cast out when it is all done for the day ... I'll drop the continuation and a link here in a few hours, and please drop me a link to your story as well!
will do, but I've been busy writing a few more parts to my story also. one of these days, I'll have to start at the beginning of your story. I hate coming in the middle and not knowing how it started.
Yikes... I've been writing since JULY! That would take a long time clicking through on Steemit, but, every so often I take a BIG portion and turn it into a novel on Amazon. The portion I'm writing comes out of the big portions of November and December, but, the first big portion is a story called Black, White, and RED All Over, which you can click through here on Steemit, BUT, it will probably be easier to read it on Amazon Kindle! The portion I am writing now comes out of The Posture of Innocence, which ends with the Ridgeline Fire, and will be available for Kindle in early January -- so, you're not that far behind and can get caught up quick! I'll post that up when it comes through ...
I had no idea that you actually got something like black eyed peas😕 I thought it's that chick band group or something 😂
Nope... time-honored and DELICIOUS food...
Mmmm I love black eyed peas! :-)