The Four Aunties: Peas

The Four Aunties: PEAS

by Matthew Raiford and Helen Rae Ladson

They came in the braids of Africans who were stripped, shackled, and placed head to foot in the belly of ships named White Lion, Monrovia, Clotilda, and Wanderer. Their voyages to the hinterlands from the west coast of Africa helped to create food ways that have evolved from survival food to delicacies that are coveted by even the richest of palates.

The P.O.W.R Aunts (peas, okra, watermelon, and rice) have been a source of sustenance since its arrivalupon the coastal shores of what is now known as the Gullah Geechee Heritage Corridor. In this series wewill see the aunts as individuals and collectively.

The journey of peas is quite similar to okra, watermelon, and rice with the point of origin being the continent of Africa. Legumes such as black-eyed peas were included in the diets of pharaohs and aristocrats during antiquity and others like Congo peas were found in their tombs. The research and findings of Dr. Jessica B. Harris concludes that one of the earliest accounts of peas was observed by Ibn Battuta who visited the Mali Empire in 1352 A.D. and found that legumes were grown, fried, and served in dishes while in other instances were milled into flour to aid in the preparation of porridges.

Because they grow well in tropical climates, legumes flourished in South America, India, and Japan - each having their own recipes that include the usage of black-eyed peas. .

When Shakespeare’s Romeo ponders, “What’s in a name?”, although his follow up statement referred to roses - the query of peas and beans should be

questioned as well. The name peas and beanscan be interchangeable because of their closerelationship with one another.

Conversely, the difference between peas and beans are minuscule for they both belong to the Fabaceae or legume family and their naming is contingent upon where the pulse, or edible seed, grows on the stem of the plant. The true difference between the two is that peas are usually green and come in pods, however the process of preparation is generally the same and just as tasty.

Every New Year throughout African American communities, traditional dishes are set out before family members to bring in the year with prosperity and good luck. Amongst those dishes is Hoppin’ John, a perlou dish that consists of black-eyed peas or on the Gullah Geechee Coas t- Sea Island Red Peas and rice; customarily some type of meat is added to impact flavor and texture. Although this dish has been consumed for generations, warming the bellies and hearts of many, consumers may be unaware of the fact that what is called a pea is actually a bean.

Sea Island were a specialty that grew in the gardens of cultivators who were enslaved before the Reconstruction Era, and were not found in the

larger fields that were for mass production. These peas were actually much smaller than the wellknown black-eyed peas or field peas that were often used in soups, perlou, or as a source of protein to sustain the once captive that went on to maintain the respective work fields that they tended.

Most times, after work was done in the larger fields, many of the enslaved and freedmen went home to take care of their own personal patches of land that may have been on the side or back of their dwellings.

These half acre (or smaller) fields yielded grains and plants that were remnants of their native lands

to which they would never return. They made new homes in places like Sapelo Island off of the coast of Meridian, an unincorporated township in McIntosh County, Georgia.

What makes these peas or beans so unique is the red tint that should not be mistaken for kidney beans or even the aforementioned field peas. The Sea Island Red Pea is slightly smaller and is unmistakably delicious and difficult to find in most stores.

But merely lingering on the origins of peas would stifle the wonderment of this amazing plant and the multitude of benefits that they bring to all forms of life on Earth. Legumes are a great source of protein, potassium, iron, and vitamin K and are known to decrease problems with blood pressure and reduce the risk of stroke.

Yet with all of these great advantages, many have taken the advice of James Brown and have decided to “Pass the Peas” however it’s not because they give you something that makes you want to shout but because of the flatulence that may come with digestion.

The nitrogen that legumes produce helps aid in the conservation of the land and actually helps facilitate water retention and circulates the air in the soil. Legume crops can grown to be harvested or to be used as a cover crop for enriching the soil through a process called biological nitrogen fixation (BFN).

If one would think of their body as soil or the Earth, the realization that legumes are effective within our own bodies just as they are in nature, the appreciation of peas may increase.

Nature reminds us that time will tell what will continue to last despite the conditions that may arise. Peas stands as one of the many testaments of this statement with examples of its travels throughout the entire world as it has mutated into many different strands that have found their way on the tables of young, old, rich, or poor and have left them all satisfied and wanting more.

Although peas may be full of gas, they are more than hot air- she is our Baroness of Biodiversity!