Thursday, December 31, 2020

New Year's Day Food


My family often eats black-eyed peas and ham on New Year's Day. I can’t remember how that tradition got started, but most years we dine on the Southern dish because we like it not because we hope it will bring us wealth.


However, many people do believe eating black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day will bring them luck. Throughout history, people have eaten certain foods on New Year's Day, hoping to gain riches, love, or other kinds of good fortune during the rest of the year. 

For some nationalities, ham or pork is the luckiest thing to eat on January 1st. That leads one to wonder how a pig became associated with the idea of good luck. Hundreds of years ago in Europe, wild boars were caught in the forests and killed on the first day of the year. Also, a pig uses its snout to dig in the ground in a forward motion. Maybe people liked the idea of moving forward as the new year began, especially since pigs are also associated with plumpness and getting plenty to eat. 

Austrians, Swedes, and Germans also choose pork or ham for their New Year's meal, and they brought this tradition with them when they settled in different regions of the United States. People in New England often combine their pork with sauerkraut to guarantee luck and prosperity for the coming year. Germans and Swedes tend to choose red cabbage as a lucky side dish, too. While folks in the Southern U.S. choose black-eyed peas.


In other countries, turkey is the meat of choice. Bolivians and some people in New Orleans follow this custom. But others claim that eating fowl (such as turkey, goose, or chicken) on New Year's Day will result in bad luck. Fowl scratch backward as they search for their food, and who wants to have to "scratch for a living"? 
People in the northwestern part of the United States may eat salmon to get lucky. Some Germans and Poles choose herring, which may be served in a cream sauce or pickled. Other Germans eat carp. 
 
vasilopeta

Sometimes sweets or pastries are eaten for luck. In the colony of New Amsterdam, now New York, the Dutch settlers enjoyed sweet treats. Sometimes a special cake was made with a coin baked inside. Such cakes are traditional in Greece, which celebrates Saint Basil's Day and New Year's at the same time. The Saint Basil's Day cake (vasilopeta) is made of yeast dough and flavored with lemon. The person who gets the slice with the silver or gold coin is considered very lucky! 
Hoppin' John

Hoppin' John is eaten in many southern states. Hoppin' John is made with black-eyed peas or dried red peas, combined with hog jowls, bacon, or salt pork. Rice, butter, salt, or vegetables like celery, onions and green peppers may be added. The children in the family might even hop around the table before the family sits down to eat this lucky dish. 

vasilopeta
toshikoshi soba

In Brazil, lentils are a symbol of prosperity, so lentil soup or lentils with rice is prepared for the first meal of the New Year. Thousands of miles away, the Japanese observe their New Year's tradition by eating a noodle called toshikoshi soba. (This means "sending out the old year.") This buckwheat noodle is quite long, and those who can swallow at least one of them without chewing or breaking it are supposed to enjoy good luck and a long life. 

Portugal and Spain have an interesting custom. As the clock strikes midnight and the new year begins, people in these countries may follow the custom of eating twelve grapes or raisins to bring them luck for all twelve months of the coming year"

I wish you good things for 2021. It’s got to be better than this year, right?

Do you have a special New Year’s Day dinner? Share with us what it is.



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10 comments:

  1. I married into a southern family and learned about the new year's day meal that also included greens of some sort. Hearing about other countries' traditions was fascinating. Thanks for sharing.

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  2. In the South, it's black-eyed peas and collard greens. The peas, because they swell, symbolize prosperity and the greens money.

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    1. We like some greens, but we usually eat cabbage with our black-eyed peas. I'm guessing it's because my dad wouldn't eat greens of any kind.

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  3. My mom was born in Mobile, AL and I was always told that the food of choice on New Year's Day was black eyed peas. But, my dad's family goes back to Germany when his great grandfather came to the U.S. from Hannover, Germany as a baby. And they always made sure to eat sauerkraut on New Year's Day. I like both dishes and, whatever I have a taste for is what I prepare that day. I don't believe, of course, that either brings me good luck. It's just a tradition and it's kind of fun. Tomorrow on January first I'll be making kraut with ham. In part, it will be in memory of a dear friend who immigrated from German after WW2 and passed away from covid a few weeks ago. She made the best kraut I ever tasted. She never gave me the recipe though.

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    1. My grandparents were of German descent, and my grandmother made homemade sauerkraut all the time. I hated the stuff. It really stunk up the house. We lived with my grandparents When I in high school, and when I smelled it in the morning as she started it, I made my plans to be elsewhere for dinner. Funny thing is, once I became an adult and my husband wanted some, I found it wasn't so bad tasting after all.

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  4. Pam, do you make your own kraut? Care to share the recipe? I've never eaten homemade sourkraut.

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  5. Hi Vickie! I always enjoy your posts. About ten years ago we started our own tradition of making Mexican food for New Year's Day. Some years we have had quite a feast and went all out, other years, depending on our SW MO weather, we've kept it small. The favorite of the family are sopaipillas. Sopaipillas are fried bread - we eat them with honey. Yum! When we were in the Air Force and living in Albuquerque, I gathered many traditional recipes for Mexican food and we had a best friend who, born in Albuquerque, helped us ladies with cooking the real thing with ingredients. Happy New Year, dear friend!

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  6. Black-eye peas and ham with cornbread is exactly what we had for dinner yesterday. Usually have turnips and greens with it, but had those on Wednesday with Pinto beans. Interesting to read about customs and foods from other places.

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  7. Thanks for posting! My family never ate any specific food on New Year's but if I remember correctly one of my aunts offered a buffet and open house on this day that was a tradition over the years.

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