Good Luck Foods for the New Year

The New Year  is a time for fresh starts, new beginnings and noble resolutions; people vow to have a better year than the previous one and wish for prosperity and luck.  It was traditionally thought that such luck could be achieved with the consumption of certain foods, and so on New Year's Day around the globe, a whole gamut of auspicious foods are eaten.  If you're looking to increase your good fortune  come January 1, take a look at lucky foods here in the States and around the world.

American Traditions

Legumes Legumes are eaten for a financially successful year. They not only resemble coins, but they swell up when cooked, just as you would want your fortune to swell. A traditional Southern dish is called Hoppin' John, a combination of black-eyed peas  and rice  (also lucky as it symbolizes abundance), but lentils  are also a tasty alternative.	Greens Green: the color of money.  Though collards  are the green of choice in the southern states, kale,  chard  and turnip greens  are a tasty way to ensure an economically prosperous New year.  You could even do like the Dutch- and German-Americans do by eating cabbage  or sauerkraut.   Remember, the more you eat, the greater your fortune will be!	Cornbread The old Southern expression goes "peas for pennies, greens for dollars, and cornbread  for gold".  The symbolic origins of this treat have little ambiguity: eat the golden-colored bread and your wealth will naturally increase.  As an added treat, there's no better way to sop up the juices left behind from your black-eyed peas and collard greens.	Pork Pigs are considered good luck because they root forward, symbolizing progress (with this logic, lobster is to be avoided since it moves backwards).  In the Italian tradition, the fatty meat is also linked to a fat wallet.  It is therefore natural that pork  --and especially ham  in the United States--would be a delicious staple of the New Year's table.

Good Luck Foods Around the World

Ancient Rome It was customary in Ancient Rome to exchange gifts of figs,  dates  and nuts.	Armenia A big, flat bread called Darin is made.  A coin is often hidden inside, and the person getting that piece will be especially lucky that year.	Austria Suckling pig  is eaten and the table is sometimes decorated with miniature pigs made of marzipan  or chocolate.	Bosnia & Croatia In these countries, minced beef is rolled into large cabbage leaves.  This sarma is said to bring health and wealth.	Cambodia New Year is in April (according to the Indian calendar), and sticky rice cakes are filled with ground sweet beans  in honor of Shiva's wife Uma.

China The Chinese New Year follows the lunar calendar.  There are many lucky foods: noodles  symbolize a long life, and dumplings  resemble gold nuggets.	Denmark The traditional Danish New Year's menu includes boiled cod.   Fish are seen as lucky because their scales look like silver.	France The French eat a stack of very thin pancakes called crêpes  in hopes of luck and good health in the coming year.	Germany Like the Danes, Germans also enjoy fish for New Year's.  Folklore says that herring  should be eaten at midnight to ensure luck.	Greece The Greeks eat vassilopita, which is a sweet bread into which a coin has been baked.  Whoever gets the coin will have luck in the new year.

Holland Olie Bollen, or oil balls, are puffed donuts filled with apples, raisins and currants.  Round foods are quite lucky because they resemble coins.	Hungary A very lucky dish is a suckling pig with a four-leaf clover  in its mouth.  Chicken  and fish  are avoided: chicken because you don't want to scratch around for money like a chicken scratches for food, and fish because your money might swim away.	Italy Customs vary by region, but contechino con lenticchie (pork sausage  over lentils) is quite common.  A snake-shaped good luck sweet is sometimes served: this represents leaving the past behind, much as a snake sheds its skin.	Japan Long soba  noodles are served; as in China, they symbolize a long life. Red snapper  is also popular because the color red is very lucky in Japan.	Jewish New Year The Jewish New Year is called Rosh Hashanah and it takes place in early fall. Apples and honey  are eaten for a sweet year to come.

Latin America & Spain In many Hispanic countries, twelve grapes are eaten at the stroke of midnight.  If the grape for the respective month is sweet, it will be a good month, and likewise if the grape is sour.	The Philippines The type of food eaten doesn't matter.  Filipinos believe that having a large amount of food on the table at midnight will usher in an abundant New Year.	Switzerland The Swiss tradition doesn't involve the eating of lucky foods per se, but whipped cream  is dropped on the floor as a demonstration of the surplus wealth to come.	Tibet In Tibet, scraps of wood or bits of charcoal  are cooked into food.  These are meant to predict the future ahead.  The person who finds the charcoal is said to have a black heart, so beware!

Tips for Your New Year's Dinner

You can read about all thew New Year's traditions in the world, but the most important thing is, if you don't have them already, to establish your own.

• First of all, if you already have certain foods that you eat on New Year's Day and you would like to continue with that menu, absolutely do!  If you are looking to add to your dinner, do continue reading.
• If you belong to one or more of the above cultural groups, then you have an easy avenue, and by consulting the External Links below, you can find more information and recipes.  However, do not feel constrained by your background, especially if a New Year's dinner will be a new experience.  If you are Italian but vegetarian, then obviously you will not want to eat pork sausage come January 1st, but you can certainly prepare lentils, or even choose another type of legume.  Think lima beans,  fava beans,  peanuts,  chick peas,  and so on.
• If the information about your particular ethnic background does not inspire you, keep reading until you find a tradition that does.  Is there a dish in the list above that sounds particularly delicious?  If time is an issue, is one of them easily prepared and incorporated?
• Are you still feeling uninspired?  Decide what you are wishing for in the year ahead--health, wealth, love, etc.--and imagine what sorts of foods could symbolize those concepts.  For instance, if you are looking for new love, serve red fruits or aphrodisiac foods!
• Above all, make sure there is something that everyone will enjoy, and think of these foods as a conversation piece for your family or guests.  The best holiday dinner is a lively one!

Related Guides

New Year's Eve	New Year's Resolutions	Sparkling Wine	Champagne Glasses	Winter Decorating

External Links

• ChowHound.com: Good luck foods around the world.
• Epicurious.com: Lucky foods for the New Year.   
• BlogHer.com: Eating your way to a prosperous New Year.
• DayTimer.com: New Year's food customs around the world.
• Mealtime.org: Worldwide New Year's traditions.  
• FatherTimes.net: New Year's traditions around the world.