Want good luck in 2011? Hit the kitchen. Throughout the world, New Year’s Day means celebrating with traditional foods that symbolize good fortune. For your holiday menu, usher in the new year with dishes that are as auspicious as they are delicious.
Grapes
In the early 1900s, Spanish grape growers had a surplus supply, and there was born a tradition that spread to Portugal, Venezuela, Cuba, Mexico and Peru. When the clock strikes midnight, revelers pop a grape for every chime, with each of the twelve grapes representing a month of the coming year. If a particular grape is especially sweet, you can expect an especially happy month corresponding to which grape it was. For example, if the second grape was noticeably sweeter than the rest, then your February will bring you much happiness.
Greens
This tradition spans the globe. In Germany they’re downing the cabbage dish sauerkraut while Danes consume kale. Here in the United States, a trip south would reveal collard green’s popularity. Why all this greenery? It’s the color of money of course.
Legumes
Speaking of money, it couldn’t hurt to pair cash with coins. That’s the idea behind eating foods that are small and round. Italians, Germans and Brazilians eat lentils, while the Japanese indulge in sweet black beans. In the American South, eating black-eyed peas is thought to bring prosperity, a tradition started with Sephardi Jews who migrated to Georgia in the 1700s.
Pork
Often legumes or greens are cooked with pork, or served alongside it. Pig symbolized progress, because it’s an animal that moves forward. It’s served in a variety of places in a wide variety of ways, from Austria (marzipan pigs) to Sweden (pigs feet) to Italy and Germany (pork sausage).
Fish
The Chinese eat fish because the word for “fish” sounds like the word for “abundance.” But in other cultures, the custom stems from the practicality of cod’s easy preservation, or from the Catholic Church’s banning of red meat on religious holidays. Among the fishy dishes out there: boiled cod in Denmark, dried salt cod in Italy, herring in Poland, seafood salad in Sweden and sardines in Japan.
Cake
What’s a meal without dessert? For New Year’s, commonly a round or ring-shaped cake completes the meal. You’ll find pastries in Holland, Hungary, Poland and Italy. Some cultures hide a meaningful treasure within, and whomever gets it is guaranteed a great year. In Greece, look out for a coin, in Scandinavia an almond is buried in rice pudding.
See our slide show of recipes you can make with these lucky foods!
