ORLANDO, Florida – With a new year come new resolutions, often related to health.
But first, one or two more days of eating.
There are certainly some dishes without which you can’t start the new year and, if you think the superstition behind this food, the story behind these New Year’s culinary traditions is fascinating.
Hoppin ‘John – This southern tradition of black-eyed peas brings good luck to dining rooms. A legend originates in Louisiana, from the French Creole word for peas. Others link it to the Carolinas, of African and French roots. Either way, culinary historians can trace the dish back to the early 19th century. Sometimes you add some kind of pork (ham pork or salted pork), also by luck, sometimes green, symbolic for money or wealth and rice, which can mean abundance. Peas, as a round food, represent coins.
Lentils – Round and green lentils are traditional in many different cultures, for luck and prosperity. Italians, for example, have a dish called cotechino with lenticchie, sausage and green lentils, eaten shortly after midnight. Germans and Brazilians also eat dishes of lentils.
Grape – Eating 12 grapes for each bell at midnight has Spanish origins. Winemakers supposedly started the tradition as a way to get rid of a surplus of grapes. In addition to each clock bell, each grape also represents a month of the year. If you get an acidic grape, it can mean that this month will be tough. So be sure to make a note.
Champagne – Drinking New Year’s Eve is a European tradition of the 1800s, but they did not always drink champagne or bubbles exclusively until the late 1800s, early 1900s. Champagne was something the rich drank. So if you were trying to project wealth and luxury, drinking champagne was a good way to do it.
Noodles – Many Asian cultures serve long noodles during New Year’s celebrations as a hope for a long life. In Japan, it is customary to eat soba noodles. Eating buckwheat noodles dates back to the 1600s.
Pork and other meats – Many New Year’s dishes use pork, from the aforementioned Hoppin ‘John to pork and sauerkraut to suckling pig. The reason is that pigs are rooting forward in the mud, a sign of the future. They can also represent the reward of the land.
As a result, some cultures move away from eating beef because cows always stop and from eating poultry because birds always “scratch back” with their feet. Most fish are fine, although some traditions warn you not to eat bottom fish because they can keep you stopped. The Japanese also eat shrimp for a long life.
Greens – As mentioned before, greens are said to represent paper money. Collades, turnips and kale are popular in America. The Germans like their sauerkraut. The Danes eat kale with cinnamon and sugar.
Big – Rice, quinoa, barley, buckwheat. Grains represent abundance because they swell when cooked. Southerners add rice to their Hoppin ‘John. In Norway, rice pudding is traditional.
Cakes and anything round – Round foods symbolize coins and the desire for wealth. New Year’s cakes and sweets can be found all over the world. In Greece, a special sweet bread called vasilopite is cut at midnight. Each member of the family gets a piece and the person who gets a coin inside their piece will have good luck guaranteed. Donut cakes are popular in Eastern Europe, the Netherlands and the Netherlands. And in Denmark they eat kransekage, a marzipan-layer cake that looks like a cornucopia (the horn of plenty).