At home, cold ham is traditionally eaten for luck on New Year's Day. Whom this is lucky for I don't know. Certainly not the pig.

New Year has always seemed odd, crystal-bright, an austere holiday that the jubilations of the night (and month) before cannot defile. January 1st is a universal birthday in which everyone takes stock
whether they want to or not. It's the point at which the cheering crispness of Christmas becomes the long, cold slog through winter. It's leftovers and regrets, promises made to be broken, the feeling of passed time as slippery as a frozen pavement.

Last New Year's I woke up in Scotland, in a flat where I knew none of the residents, smelling of stale smoke and sporting the world's most agressive headache. I spent at leat two hours looking for my post-op medication (it had rolled under the bed) and the rest of the daylight hours staring blankly at a television which seemed to be spewing utter nonsense. What few Chirstmas decorations were still up looked exactly as cheap as they were.

Perhaps we need luck then most of all. The Christmas magic is gone and pagan witchery put to bed.

New Year might be sold as a time for dreams and wishes, but it's more often a time of acceptance. Measuring up what you wanted and what you got. All the stress, the worry, of what you imagine your Christmas obligations to be is revealed as the fuss and nonsense it is.

The traditional food of the Deep South is based on what slaves and poor people ate. Those unwanted scraps are probably, in my opinion, the best food of all. Not unlike learning to love unwanted holiday gifts. Making do with the leftovers. It's a fitting cuisine for the new year.

Southern New Year's Brunch Spread

Hoppin' John: In a large bowl, mix equal volumes cold cooked rice, sweetcorn kernels, blackeye beans boiled with bacon. Salt and pepper to taste. Add chopped chiles, if you like.

Cold ham, mustard and rolls.

Corn pudding: To 6 oz. of coarse cornmeal add the same volume of self-raising flour, one egg, salt and pepper, one 14 oz. can of creamed corn and 4 fluid ounces buttermilk. Pour into a greased casserole and bake in a moderate oven 45 minutes - the centre should be crusted over, but not fully firm.

Biscuits and white gravy: Prepare and bake scones, but halve the amount of sugar in the recipe. In a pan where bacon or sausage has been fried, pour half a pint of milk in with the fat and bring to a simmer. Add salt and loads of pepper; thicken with flour stirred into more milk. Serve gravy poured over the hot biscuits. Adding coffee to the gravy along with milk makes it 'Red-Eye' gravy.

Mixed green salad, if you got it. Coleslaw if you don't.

Serve with friends, beer and hangovers. Make sharing meals more often the one resolution you keep. Count your blessings.