Champagne, noise makers and confetti are basic elements of New Year’s Eve. But in some parts of the country and the world, so are black-eyed peas, lentils, grapes, and pickled herring. Coming from the low country of South Carolina to Japanese noodle houses to Pennsylvania Dutch houses, these are seven lucky dishes that are traditionally eaten around the new year to bring fortune.
Hoppin ‘John
Hoppin ‘John
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This basic southern menu, usually a mixture of black-eyed peas, rice, and pork, originated in the United States with enslaved Africans in the 19th century, especially in the low country of South Carolina.
The first time John Hoppin’s name was known it appeared in print, according to The New York Times, was in the novel Memories of a Southern Matron in 1838. Often served with vegetable collar and cornbread, food historians generally attribute the unusual name of the dish to the making of “pigsons pois,” in French for dried peas and pronounced “paw-peejohn.” “, which may have looked like” John Hoppin. ” to English speakers.
The dish is likely to be related to New Year’s celebrations because it correlates with the region’s seasonal rice harvest or pig slaughter. But its ingredients are also a symbol of good luck. Black-eyed peas represent coins (other traditions include eating 12 peas on New Year’s Eve — one for each month — for good luck), while green peas mean money, and cornbread means gold.
King’s Cake
A king cake gets the finishing touch.
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Fans of Louisianans and Mardis Gras know how to start their year with a ringed sweet king cake, covered in colorful icing and sprinkled and baked with a trinket, like a plastic baby, hidden inside. The lucky person who finds the trinket is named “king” or “queen” for the day.
Bakeries in New Orleans and across the country begin selling delicacies in early January through Shrove Tuesday. They are traditionally eaten on January 6, known as the night of Kings or Epiphany, the Catholic celebration of the gifts of the Magi to the child Jesus on the night of the 12th after his birth.
According to NPR, the simple oval cakes eaten on Twelfth Night go back to Old World Europe, and the tradition eventually took it to America. In the late 19th century, New Orleans, revelers began hiding a bean in the cake during Mardi Gras balls. In the 1940s, commercial pastry shops began mass-producing king cakes and went from beans, pecans or rings baked inside to porcelain dolls, and finally plastic babies that are still used today. in day.
Similarly, vasilopite, which is served in Greece and Cyprus, is often baked with a coin inside and served on New Year’s Day. Other versions can be found in Spain (thread of kings), Portugal (ball-re) and France (gateau de rois).
Tamales
Serving dish full of tamales.
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Tamales, those bundles of meat-stuffed dough, wrapped in corn husks and steamed, have come to symbolize the family, as generations often gather in the kitchen to make labor-intensive foods. which will be eaten throughout the holiday season. In Mexico, which covers from December 12, the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, until January 6, the day of the Three Kings.
Tamales date from 8000 to 5000 BC and Mesoamerican cultures, including the Maya and Aztecs, and according to The New York Times, arrived in U.S. entry points, such as Los Angeles and San Antonio, and were sold by street vendors in the 1870s. Mexican migrant workers helped spread the dish to other areas of the country.
Soba noodles
Soba noodles symbolize a long and healthy life.
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Ringing the year with toshikoshi soba, a soup with buckwheat noodles that cross the year, is a New Year’s Eve tradition in Japan steeped in tradition and now practiced in the United States. According to The Japan Times, toshikoshi means “going up or jumping from the old year to the new.”
The long, thin noodles symbolize a long, healthy life and date back to the 13th or 14th century, “when a temple or a wealthy lord decided to treat the hungry population of soba noodles on the last day of the year.”
12 lucky grapes
Some believe that eating 12 grapes at midnight brings good luck.
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On New Year’s Eve bottles of champagne appear all over the world, but for some it’s already over eating grape. The Spanish tradition las doce uvas de la suerta, also known as the 12 lucky grapes, maintains that eating 12 grapes early in the evening (one for each bell of the clock) will bring good luck next year.
Each grape means a month and, according to superstition, not finishing the 12 on time will be a disgrace next year. NPR dates the beginning of the custom to the 1880s, with newspapers reporting on the Madrid bourgeoisie passing on the traditions of the French grape and champagne.
Lentils
Round and coin-shaped, lentils are considered a symbol of prosperity.
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Italian New Year’s Eve parties can mean several courses served for several hours. One of the dishes of the great extension said that it brought especially good luck: the lentils. Round and coin-shaped, they are a symbol of prosperity and are often served with pork sausage (pork and pork are also considered lucky).
A basic element since antiquity, the legume dates back to 8000 BC in northern Syria and was brought to America in the 16th century by the Portuguese and Spanish.
Pickled herring
Herring is often served at New Year’s breakfasts.
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Fish, a symbol of fertility, longevity and reward (plus the color silver represents fortune), is a popular New Year’s dish in many cultures, and especially for those of Scandinavian, German and Polish descent. . Pickled herring, a small fatty fish, is often served at New Year’s breakfasts.
Herring has been a standard Scandinavian, Dutch and northern European dish since the Middle Ages, due in part to its abundance, of which it has become a symbol, making it a tradition. popular and lucky New Year’s Eve. It is especially developed in the United States in states such as Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa, which have a large Norwegian population.
Pork and sauerkraut
Pork and sauerkraut are linked to a long life.
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While southerners may get into John, those from Pennsylvania and Ohio savor slow-cooked pork and sauerkraut on New Year’s Day. The dish is said to bring good luck and progress because pigs are known to take root forward or advance, while sauerkraut is made with cabbage, which is tied to symbolic riches and prosperity and a long life thanks to its long strands.
The Dutch of Pennsylvania brought the Germanic tradition to America. Fresh pork was the star of Christmas and New Year’s meals for early settlers due to its timing with winter pork butchery and sauerkraut served as a side dish because winter was also harvest season of cabbages.
New Year’s pretzel
Sweet pretzels are eaten for breakfast or brunch to have good luck next year.
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German-Americans who don’t eat pork and sauerkraut on Jan. 1 probably enjoy a special New Year’s pretzel. The German symbol of good luck, which some say dates back to the early 20th century in Sandusky, Ohio, is sweeter than salty, covered with an enamel instead of salt, and often served for breakfast or brunch. Pittsburgh magazine says the pretzel, which can also be dotted with nuts and candied fruit, is said to bring good luck for next year.