Lucky Foods for the New Year

While the Christmas holidays have a bevy of food traditions associated with them, the number of traditions associated with the celebration of the New Year is not far behind.  Many New Year’s traditions are related to assuring the luck or prosperity of the New Year.  And who wouldn’t want to do what they could to be a little luckier in the coming year?

Try to match these “good luck” foods with the regions that use them to celebrate.  The answers will appear at the end of this post!

1. Hoppin’ John
2. A whole fish
3. Donuts
4. Pork and sauerkraut
5. Rice cooked with palm sugar
6. Boiled cod
7. Noodles
8. Pickled herring
9. 12 grapes at the stroke of midnight
10. Cabbage

• Poland
• Pennsylvania Dutch
• Denmark
• Southern United States
• Holland
• United States
• Spain
• China
• Southern India
• Japan

In my family, New Year’s is always celebrated by eating roast pork and sauerkraut for dinner.  Pork is seen as going forward and progressing into the New Year because pigs always root forward.  Sauerkraut, because cabbage is seen as a sign of prosperity and represents paper currency.

Pork, sauerkraut and mashed potatoes can also be a healthy way to start your New Year.  Sauerkraut is very low in calories, only about 20 calories per cup, and a lean pork roast can also be low in fat and calories.  A 3-ounce serving of roasted lean pork loin should contain about 175 calories and 8 grams of fat.  As for the mashed potatoes, try to keep it healthy by mashing them with broth or non-fat milk.

In more than one culture, foods that are in the shape of a ring or round signify the cycle of the year and the seamless ending of one year and beginning of another.  Doughnuts are a food commonly used to signify this cycle.  Legumes, are round and they swell when cooked – another sign of prosperity.  Eating long noodles without breaking them is thought to insure a long life.  In the Philippines, having food on the table at midnight is thought to assure an abundance of food in the coming year.

Answers:

1. Southern US
2. China
3. Holland
4. Pennsylvania Dutch
5. Southern India
6. Denmark
7. Japan
8. Poland
9. Spain
10. United States