Each New Year, people around the world eat specific foods to summon good luck for the next 365 days. Some popular traditions call for greens, legumes, pork, grains, noodles, and fish. All are symbols of health, wealth, and prosperity for the coming year.
Hoppin’ John, Greens, and Cornbread (Photo: Spoon And Chair)
- Greens—including cabbage, collards, kale, and chard—represent folded money. It’s widely believed that the more greens you eat, the larger your fortune will be. In the southern United States, each bite of greens is worth $1000 in the upcoming year.
- Beans, peas, and lentils are also symbolic of money, more specifically, coins. Their small, seed-like appearance swells when cooked, symbolizing growing wealth.
- Pork, because of its rich fat content, signifies prosperity, a full pantry, and happiness. The custom of eating pork is based on the fact that pigs push their snouts forward as they root for food; this symbolizes progress.
- Grains—like rice, quinoa, and barley—stand for abundance.
- Noodles symbolize long life. The longer the noodle, the better. Key here is slurping the noodle without breaking it to ensure a long life.
- Fish are associated with wealth and abundance. Fish scales are said to resemble coins and there are plenty of them because the fish swim in schools.
- Golden corn bread represents gold coin.
- Ring-shaped cakes, pastries, and breads symbolize the year coming full circle.
Champagne and sachets with the twelve grapes for luck.
12 grapes
On New Year’s Eve in Spain, Portugal, and Mexico, twelve grapes are eaten as the clock chimes twelve times at midnight. Each grape represents a month and predicts how the New Year will go—a sweet grape means the month will be a good one; a sour grape . . . not so good.
PARTY IDEA: Put grapes in sachets or thread onto skewers and serve with a glass of champagne just before the countdown.
Collard Greens with smoked meat is a popular southern tradition. (Photo: Food Network)
Get Smart
Miso Kale Salad with Apples and Walnuts
(Photo: Bustle)
Stewed Kale and Lentils
(Photo: Canadian Living)
Because they resemble brains, walnuts are associated with intelligence. Adding them to a kale (wealth) dish, ensures you’ll make smart financial decisions in the coming year.
Traditional in many parts of Eastern Europe, Stuffed Cabbage with Sauerkraut is a combination of lucky ingredients—cabbage and sauerkraut (wealth), pork (prosperity and happiness), rice (abundance), and tomato sauce (health and transformation. (Photo: Our Empty Nest)
Having Sausagekraut, a tasty combination of pork and sauerkraut (shredded cabbage), on New Year’s Eve, is said to bring wealth, prosperity, and happiness. In Germany, people extend the following blessing to others:
May you have as much wealth and happiness as there are shreds of cabbage in the pot.
(Photo: Our Empty Nest)
According to southern forklore
Garlicky and Lemony Black-Eyed Pea and Kale Salad
(Photo: The Taste Space)
Paula Deen’s Hoppin’ John
(Photo: The Food Network)
Back in the days of the Civil War, black-eyed peas were considered animal food. When Union soldiers raided the Confederate food supplies, legend says they took everything but the peas and salted pork. The Confederates considered themselves lucky to be left with the supplies, as meager as they were, and were able to survive the winter. Black-eyed peas became symbolic of luck, and eating 365 of them—one for on each day of the New Year—became a popular tradition.
In Italy, it’s customary to eat Cotechino con Lenticchie—Italian pork sausage with lentils—just after the clock strikes midnight. (Photo: Reddit)
Ring in the New Year with an impressive Bacon-Wrapped Pork Roast for a double—pork on pork—dose of prosperity and happiness. (Photo: Recipes2a)
Succulent ham roll-ups are perfect party finger food for a New Year’s Eve get-together.
Toshikoshi Soba is customarily served at midnight in Japan. The long noodles represent long life, so be careful not to bite into or break a noodle once it’s in your mouth.
(Photo: La Fugi Mama)
White Bean and Ham Soup
(Photo: Simply Recipes)
Lentil Soup with Kale and Sausage.
(Photo: Applegate)
In Denmark, the New Year is ushered in with boiled cod. Cape Cod Turkey is an old-fashioned New England way to serve it. (Photo: Aimee Seavey/Yankee Magazine)
Hot Pickled Herrings and a Dill Pickle Potato Salad is a delicious way to satisfy the tradition of eating pickled herring for good luck. Germans believe pickled herring must be eaten at the stroke of midnight; Poles say it must be the first bite of food in the New Year. (Photo: Lavender and Lovage)
Doughnuts and pastries are popular traditions in Poland, Hungary, and the Netherlands. Ring-shaped food and foods shaped like coins are thought to bring prosperity to those who eat them.
On New Year’s, the Dutch indulge in Apples and Raisin Fritters (Oliebollen) a small doughnut-style pastry served as a snack or for breakfast. (Photo: SBS)
Oliebollen at the midnight hour. (Photo: Sandra Van Der Steen)
In Greece, a special round cake called Vasilopita is baked with a good-luck coin hidden within. At midnight (or after the New Year’s Day meal), the cake is cut. The first piece goes to St. Basil, who died on January 1, and the rest is distributed to guests in order of age. (Photo: Tara’s Multicultural Table)
[…] Via Our Empty Nest […]