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[Editor's Note: There are lots of foods considered lucky to eat as one year transitions into another. As 2012 begins, will you be dining on lucky foods? This post from our archives features plenty of great options to bring a little good fortune to your new year. --Genie]
People all over the world have special traditions for celebrating the arrival of the new year, and often celebrations include the idea of eating lucky foods, thought to bring happiness and prosperity in the year to come. Just which foods are lucky depends on where you are, but there are some traditions that are pretty widespread. Here are suggestions for lucky foods from around the world, but if you have a New Year's Food tradition that brings you luck, please share your link or recipe in the comments.
Foods Shaped Like Coins
In many places, foods shaped like coins are thought to bring prosperity in the new year. If you're in North America, especially the Southern U.S. states, black-eyed peas are a tradition for New Year's Day, possibly dating from the civil war, when most crops were burned and people survived on this type of field pea, also called cow peas. In the South black-eyed peas are most often served in a traditional dish called Hopping John, usually containing ham, rice, and collard greens and paired with macaroni and cheese. Last year on Blogher I shared more ideas for cooking black-eyed peas if you'd like to get the black-eyed peas luck in a less traditional dish. Many African Americans make a type of coin-shaped cookie called Benne Wafers for good luck in the new year, or as part of the celebration of Kwanzaa. In Italy people often eat lentils and sausages just after midnight on New Years Eve, and lentil dishes also symbolize good luck for New Year's in Germany and Brazil. In some eastern European countries, the lentils are combined with sauerkraut, and the long strands of sauerkraut symbolize long life. In Turkey pomegranates symbolize good luck for the coming year because of the red color and the shape of the seeds, which represent money and prosperity.
Eating Greens
Eating vegetables such as cabbage, collard greens, mustard greens, chard, or kale for New Year's seems to be associated with the idea that the folded greens symbolize money and are thought to bring good fortune. While southerners in the U.S. are often adamant that the choice must be collard greens, in Germany Sauerkraut is traditional, and in Denmark Kale cooked in white sauce and sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon is common for New Year's luck. Eating Grapes In Spain, Portugal, Mexico, Cuba, Ecuador, and Peru, it is often traditional to eat 12 grapes at the stroke of midnight, one for each month in the coming year. Some people say the name of the month as they eat each grape, and if that grape is sweet, it will be a good month.
Pork for New Year's
Pork is a symbol of prosperity in many cultures, which is one reason pork dishes are often associated with New Year's feasts. Pigs are considered good luck because they root forward, symbolizing progress, and the fatty meat is also symbolic of fattening wallets in Italy, where pigs trotters with lentils or Zampone is a traditional New Year's dish. The wide variety of pork dishes eaten all over the world at this time of year includes things like roast suckling pig (Ireland, Cuba, Spain, Portugal, Hungary, and Austria), roast pork and sausages (eastern Europe), ham and collard greens (U.S.), Pig's feet (Sweden), or Sausages with Bigos (Poland).
Fish Scales to Symbolize Silver
Fish, especially those with silver scales, are thought to be a lucky food for the new year in some places. In Germany many New Year's feasts will contain carp, and some people will put some of the scales from the fish in their wallet to bring luck. Many people in Germany or Poland eat Pickled Herring on New Year's, with good fortune coming to those who eat it. In Denmark and other Scandinavian countries, Boiled Cod with Mustard Sauce is eaten to bring in the new year. Bread or Cakes with Things Baked Inside Traditional cakes or bread with symbolic items baked inside are a New Year's custom in many places. In Greece sweet breads often contain coins,
