Traditional New Year's Lucky Foods

9 years ago

A fun read about some of those "you must eat this on New Year's" foods. Very short, only covers three dishes.

"The True Story of Traditional New Year's Lucky Foods"
Dec 30, 2014 SeriousEats.com by Sara Bir

"...I've always wondered about our family custom. My mother grew up in Ohio with lots of German and Polish neighbors, while my dad's gaggle of military brat siblings lived on Air Force bases in Florida and Louisiana. Mom brought the pork and kraut to our table's traditions; Dad, the black-eyes. But which cultures started these celebratory superstitions in the first place? And why those foods? "

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Obviously there are many more. My JapAm relatives in LA meet every New Year's to pound the rice for fresh mochi. FoodRepublic.com just ran "12 Grapes At Midnight: SpainÃ¢ÂÂs Great New YearÃ¢ÂÂs Eve Tradition, And Superstition."

Do you have any "lucky foods" in your family traditions?

Here is a link that might be useful: New Year's

Comments (13)

duluthinbloomz4
9 years ago
Poppy seeds are lucky for us Poles. Anything you could add them to or put them on was a good thing - on and in bread rolls and makowiec pastry. Kapusta (cabbage) is a must and you can even add poppy seeds.
bcskye
9 years ago
We've always had cabbage and black eyed peas. Don't know when or where they started from.
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Lisa - I'm sorry to hear about your daughter's illness! It's hard when you get hit with a bug like that over the holidays when all you want to do is have good times with family. Good times with family AND Hawaii isn't something to be missed. Our quirky family New Year's tradition that we've had since my kids were quite young is to make a fire in the fireplace, have an indoor "picnic" on the floor in front of the fireplace and watch movies until everyone conks out or New Year's hits (whichever comes first). The kids have gotten so they look forward to this as much or more than Christmas, since it's a fun family time with no expectations other than quiet enjoyment together. Even at 15 years, they wouldn't dream of taking off with their friends on New Year's Eve which is gratifying as a parent. The contents of the picnic can vary a lot, but it's settled down to be a variety of finger foods - fancy cheeses and crackers, fruit plate, veggie plate, nuts, deviled eggs, and of course pickled asparagus. Why pickled asparagus, you may ask? A local small grocery had some tastings set up when my twins were about 18 months old and I remember wheeling them in their tandem stroller through the aisles doing tastings. When we came to the very hot and spicy pickled asparagus that I tried (and loved), I tried to convince them that they didn't want it, but with typical toddler persistence they were reaching out their hands with insistent "uhh, uhh" sounds. I figured a little tongue burning would teach them better than anything, so I let them try some each. After about 2 seconds of chewing there was a pause then absolutely synchronized frantic doubling of that insistent "uhh, uhh" toward the asparagus. My kids have always been good with fruits and vegetables, but to this day that particular pickled asparagus has held a mythic Holy Grail appeal for all three of us (my husband doesn't care for it, which saves his hands from getting stabbed by three desperate forks). I love that it was created by a local high school student who made this his garage business to support his college education, so I look for this brand even though it's pricey. The kids and I all got pickled asparagus in our stockings this year which was an especially good idea from Santa I must say. My son's was gone within a few hours, mine is still half full, and my daughter has been restraining herself so far. Being a local product this is undoubtedly a local family tradition, but for us that makes it all the more fun. After that we'll probably be joining Marlorena on the post-New Year's going on a diet tradition, particularly given how many Christmas cookies we ended up with over the holidays. Cynthia
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sleevendog (5a NY 6aNYC NL CA)
9 years ago
A dime in the black-eyed peas...(like the baby in a mardi gras king cake).
A good luck thing...Grandma always did that...Tennessee.
shambo
9 years ago
In my Greek family, it was always vasilopita, a very rich and dense New Year's cake. The cakes were decorated with blanched almonds brushed with an egg glaze before baking, so they had a shiny, golden brown finish.

The tradition was to hide a coin in the cake, and whoever ended up with the coin was assured of good luck for the rest of the year. My grandmother would bake individual cakes for all the grandchildren. And she'd hide several coins in each mini-cake. It was always so much fun to cut into my personal cake and discover coin after coin.
blizlady
9 years ago
For us Hungarians and Germans, pickled herring is a must on New Year's Eve. My grandparents and parents always served it on Christmas and New Year's Day.

This post was edited by blizlady on Wed, Dec 31, 14 at 0:21
pkramer60
9 years ago
Pork and cabbage of some kind for NY day to ensure luck and prosperity for the coming year for this German household. I also have my pink marzipan pig, the "Gluck Schwein" on the table to bring luck.

Aren't the black eyed peas a symbol of money for the new year?
ritaweeda
9 years ago
We have black-eyed peas and collard greens but that wasn't my family's tradition, we just adopted the southern tradition from all the others here because we like it. I don't remember my family ever doing anything traditional for New Year's. They did say that up home they had pork and cabbage with a coin thrown into the pot. I always remember that you should only do things you enjoy doing on New Year's day - whatever you do on New Year's day you will wind up doing for the rest of the year. And we weren't supposed to sweep the floor on New Year's day because it would sweep away all the good luck - then I saw on the news where there are some cultures where the tradition is to sweep the whole house to get rid of the bad luck. I have a single Uncle who has a single female friend who has him come to her house and walk into every room, some kind of superstition that it will bring her luck for the year.
ruthanna_gw
9 years ago
Being of PA Dutch heritage, I have eaten pork and sauerkraut every single New Year's Day of my life. One year, when we were in Martinique for the holiday, I packed a small can of kraut and a tin of yucky Vienna sausages in my suitcase so we could have a bite of each and avoid an unlucky year.

I don't know the exact origins of the custom but follow it anyway. Some years, I make it in the traditional style as in the pic (with kielbasa added) and other years, include the two items in different ways.

Tomorrow, we'll be having spiced pork tenderloin with bourbon sauce, kraut and potato latkes, yellow string beans, and golden beet and orange salad with ginger dressing.
writersblock (9b/10a)
9 years ago
>Aren't the black eyed peas a symbol of money for the new year?

The internet says the black-eyed peas are for coins and collards for greenbacks, but I never heard that when I was growing up, just that hopping john with collards on NYD was essential for luck.
melissa_thefarm
9 years ago
I don't have any personal traditions for the holidays, though growing up in the South we sometimes did Hoppin' John and collards. Lentils are traditional in Italy, the legumes symbolizing coins, and so prosperity in the new year.
dedtired
9 years ago
We always ate fish as the first food of the New Year. I have no idea why we did that. My parents often had a New Year's party and we would eat shrimp right after we were done saying Happy New Year. If they went out, we opened a can of tuna and ate that. I am surprised that we did not learn the pork and sauerkraut tradition since my parents grew up near PA Dutch country.

Now my first food of the new year is cereal, because I go to bed before midnight and I have cereal for breakfast.
beachlily z9a
9 years ago
Growing up in the Denver area, green chili on New Year's Day was traditional. I'll be doing baby backs on the grill tomorrow (wanted to do them today, but heavy winds, spitting rain, mild temps prevented doing low and slow today). The green chili can easily be sneaked into the NYD meal!
carolb_w_fl_coastal_9b
9 years ago
Fatty, rich meats & foods that represent money: we're having roasted ducklings, Hoppin' John & greens tomorrow....

Traditional New Year's Lucky Foods

Comments (13)

duluthinbloomz4

bcskye

Related Discussions

sleevendog (5a NY 6aNYC NL CA)

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