What is cooked for the traditional New Year's Day meal?

Many people of different cultures and traditions view New Year's Day as a precursor of the year to come and superstitiously eat specific foods to increase their riches and good luck in the upcoming year. Among those foods are legumes (like black eyed peas), pork, grapes, fish, greens, and specific pastries. In the U.S. south, black eyed peas are eaten for good luck.

This dates back to the Civil War when starving residents of Vicksburg, MS luckily found some black eyed peas. They have been considered lucky ever since. In 1909, the tradition of eating 12 grapes at midnight, one with each toll of the bell, began in Spain as an answer to the bumper crop of grapes that year.

Many countries have certain pastries or cakes that are baked and eaten for good luck purposes. Greens like collard and cabbage are eaten because the leaves resemble folded dollar bills and the more eaten, the bigger the payoff. Eating fish dates back to the time before refrigeration and fish could be prepared so that they would remain edible.

It's also believed that the Catholic rule against eating red meat on a holiday was the source of this tradition. The pig was considered a symbol of progress so eating pork was to enhance the chances for success. The majority of these traditions, (but not in the pastries), the greater the consumption, the better the rewards.

So a dinner of sauerkaut, ham, blackeyed peas, a sardine appetizer, and chiacchiere for dessert should pack a powerful punch for your economic well being for the new year. Make sure a little food is left on the plate to prevent your pantry from becoming empty. Many people of different cultures and traditions view New Year's Day as a precursor of the year to come and superstitiously eat specific foods to increase their riches and good luck in the upcoming year.

Among those foods are legumes (like black eyed peas), pork, grapes, fish, greens, and specific pastries. In the U.S. south, black eyed peas are eaten for good luck. This dates back to the Civil War when starving residents of Vicksburg, MS luckily found some black eyed peas.

They have been considered lucky ever since. In 1909, the tradition of eating 12 grapes at midnight, one with each toll of the bell, began in Spain as an answer to the bumper crop of grapes that year. Many countries have certain pastries or cakes that are baked and eaten for good luck purposes.

Greens like collard and cabbage are eaten because the leaves resemble folded dollar bills and the more eaten, the bigger the payoff. Eating fish dates back to the time before refrigeration and fish could be prepared so that they would remain edible. It's also believed that the Catholic rule against eating red meat on a holiday was the source of this tradition.

The pig was considered a symbol of progress so eating pork was to enhance the chances for success. The majority of these traditions, (but not in the pastries), the greater the consumption, the better the rewards. So a dinner of sauerkaut, ham, blackeyed peas, a sardine appetizer, and chiacchiere for dessert should pack a powerful punch for your economic well being for the new year.

Make sure a little food is left on the plate to prevent your pantry from becoming empty.