My mother always made this for New Year's Day to have good luck for the year. I think she just liked to eat blackeyed peas. LOL

Here's a recipe with lots of details on how. BTW, I've always soaked my peas but apparently you don't have to, just cook longer. I haven't tried this.

You can use bacon or ham since jowls can be hard to find. Food Lion has them and sometimes Walmart.

https://www.tasteofsouthern.com/southern-black-eye-peas-recipe/