10 Lucky Foods for the New Year
Posted by Julie on Dec 27th 2019
Do you have any traditional foods you eat or meals you prepare to welcome the New Year and attract a little luck in the coming months? If you typically spend your New Year's Day recovering from the night before, consider changing up your meal plans and adding one or more of these lucky foods from around the world.
1. Grapes
Start simple with this tradition from Spain and Portugal. Line up twelve grapes, one for each month of the coming year, and pop them into your mouth at the stroke of midnight. Each sweet grape predicts a good month, and each sour one foretells a challenging month. Here’s to a whole year of sweetness!
2. Pomegranates
Greeks smash a pomegranate outside the front door when the clock strikes midnight. Use your strong throwing arm, because it’s the number of seeds that burst out of your pomegranate that predicts how lucky your new year will be. The seeds are said to represent both fertility and fortune.
3. Greens
The symbolism here is quite clear: Leafy greens look like greenbacks. Eat your spinach, lettuce, kale, chard, arugula, or bok choy, and it might just mean more money in the new year. Plus, greens are nutritious and a great way to start off right on a resolution to eat better.
4. Cornbread
Cornbread is another food with clear symbolism. If you make it with yellow cornmeal, it’s the color of gold, so eating cornbread is said to bring riches. As you might expect, cornbread is a traditional lucky food in the Southern US.
5. Black-Eyed Peas
The South is also known for serving black-eyed peas to start the new year. The round shape of these beans symbolizes coins, and eating them is also said to demonstrate humility.
6. Pork
Eating pork is an international tradition, as pigs symbolize good fortune in all sorts of ways. Their size shows prosperity, their fattiness means richness, and their movement -- rooting ahead with their noses -- demonstrates progress.
Hoppin’ John is a Southern tradition and a trifecta of lucky foods. Combine greens, pork, and black-eyed peas for a triple threat of luck and good fortune on New Year’s Day. Add cornbread to make this dish even more auspicious.
7. Lentils
Similar to black-eyed peas, lentils look like coins, which make them a traditional lucky food in other parts of the world. Lentils are actually seeds, which means they symbolize both fertility and fortune, similar to pomegranates. Add them to pork dishes to increase your chances for good luck in the new year.
8. Fish
Like pork, fish have several qualities that symbolize good fortune. First, schools of fish show abundance and prosperity. Next, the shape and shininess of their scales look like coins. Finally, fish stand for progress, as they always move forward as they swim.
9. Noodles
An Asian tradition for the new year involves slurping down soba noodles in hope of a long life. Take care not to bite the noodles in half as you eat. Your best chance at luck is to swallow those noodles whole.
10. Sauerkraut
Finally, sauerkraut is a well-known German tradition for New Year’s Eve. Cabbage is used to make this dish, and this leafy green vegetable represents money. If you’re a fan of fermented foods, you’ll enjoy this lucky meal. Add pork to make it even more fortunate.