Happy New Year PopFi readers. We’ve survived 2011 and now are steeling ourselves for the challenges and opening our arms to the joys that await us in 2012. After the celebrating and epic fireworks of New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day is often one of recovery from the night before and hopeful anticipation of the year ahead.

For those readers eager to limit the chances that the upcoming year is 366 days (hey, it’s a leap year) of unmitigated strife and struggles, they might want to put Lady Luck on their side.

There are lots and lots of foods that are considered lucky to eat on the first day of the new year. It’s not too late to rush out to your local market or grocer and snag a few of the key ingredients that our ancestors ate to ensure that their god or gods smiled down upon them in a benevolent manner in the year ahead.

In the southern portion of the United States, pork, collard greens and black eyed peas (not the band that includes Fergie, but the legume) are common staples on the table on the first day of the year. Matter of fact, I’ll be dining on just such a meal later today. It’s a family tradition that I see no reason to disrupt. And heck, who doesn’t need a little good luck? I know after 2011 I could use some good fortune.

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