Champagne, noise makers, and confetti are all New Year’s Eve staples. But, in some cultures, so are black-eyed peas, lentils, grapes, and pickled herring. From the Low Country of South Carolina to the Japanese noodle houses on the streets of Spain, these are seven lucky dishes traditionally eaten around the New Year to bring good fortune.
Hoppin ‘John
Hoppin ‘John
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This staple of the Southern menu, usually a mixture of black-eyed peas, rice and pork, originated in the United States with enslaved Africans in the 19th century, most notably in the lowlands of South Carolina. .
The first time Hoppin ‘John’s name appeared on paper, according to The New York Times, was in the novel Memories of a southern matron in 1838. Often served with collard greens and cornbread, food historians generally attribute the dish’s unusual name to an interpretation of “pigeon peas”, French for dry peas and pronounced “paw-peejohn”, which may have sounded like “hoppin ‘John” to English speakers.
The dish was probably linked to New Year’s celebrations, as it correlates with the region’s seasonal rice harvest or the killing of pigs. But its ingredients are also symbolic of good luck. Black-eyed peas represent coins (other traditions include eating 12 peas on New Years Day – one for each month – for good luck), while greens signify money and bread. of corn means gold.
King cake
A royal cake gets the finishing touch.
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Louisiana and Mardis Gras fans know how to start their year with a sweet royal ring cake topped with colorful frosting and sprinkles and baked with a trinket, like a plastic baby, hidden inside. The lucky person who finds the jewel is named “king” or “queen” for the day.
Bakeries in New Orleans and across the country are starting to sell the goodies in early January through Shrove Tuesday. They are traditionally eaten on January 6, known as the Twelfth Night or Epiphany, the Catholic celebration of the gifts of the Magi to the baby Jesus on the 12th evening after his birth.
Simple oval cakes eaten on the twelfth night, according to NPR, date back to Old World Europe, and the tradition was eventually introduced to America. At the end of the 19th century in New Orleans, revelers started hiding a bean in the cake during Mardi Gras balls. In the 1940s, commercial bakeries began mass producing royal cakes and switched from beans, pecans or rings baked inside to porcelain dolls and finally to the plastic babies still in use today.
Likewise, vasilopita, served in Greece and Cyprus, is often cooked with a coin inside and is served on New Years Day. Other versions can be found in Spain (rosca de reyes), Portugal (bola-re) and France (gateau de rois).
Tamales
Serving dish full of tamales.
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Tamales, those meat-stuffed masa bundles wrapped in corn husks and steamed, have come to symbolize family, as generations often congregate in the kitchen to prepare food at high levels of labor. of work that will be consumed throughout the holiday season. In Mexico, this extends from December 12, feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, to January 6, feast of the three kings.
The Tamales date from 8,000 to 5,000 BC and Mesoamerican cultures, including the Mayans and Aztecs, and, according to The New York Times, they arrived at American entry points, such as Los Angeles and San Antonio, and were sold by street vendors in the 1870s. Mexican migrant workers helped the dish spread to other parts of the country .
Soba noodles
Soba noodles symbolize a long and healthy life.
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Ringing the year with toshikoshi soba, a buckwheat noodle soup “of the year”, is a New Years tradition in Japan steeped in tradition and now practiced in the United States. According to the Japan Times, toshikoshi means “to climb or jump from the old year to the new”.
Long, thin noodles symbolize a long and healthy life and date back to the 13th or 14th century, “when a temple or a wealthy lord decided to treat the starving population with soba noodles on the last day of the year”.
12 lucky grapes
Some believe that eating 12 grapes at the stroke of midnight brings good luck.
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Champagne bottles are burst around the world on New Year’s Eve, but for some it’s all about while eating Grapes. Spanish tradition las doce uvas de la suerta, aka the 12 lucky grapes, is that eating 12 grapes at the stroke of midnight – one for each chime on the clock – will bring good luck in the coming year.
Each grape signifies a month, and according to superstition, not completing the 12 on time will mean bad luck in the coming year. NPR dates the custom’s start to the 1880s, with newspapers reporting that the Madrid bourgeoisie swept away the French traditions of grapes and champagne.
Lentils
Round and shaped like a coin, lentils are considered a symbol of prosperity.
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Italian New Year celebrations can mean multiple courses served over several hours. They say that one of the dishes in the big spread is particularly good luck: lentils. Round and shaped like a coin, they are a symbol of prosperity and are often served with pork sausages (pork and pigs are also considered lucky).
A staple since ancient times, the legume has been traced back to 8000 BC in northern Syria, and was brought to America in the 16th century by the Portuguese and the Spanish.
Marinated herring
Herring is often served on New Year’s smorgasbords.
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Fish, a symbol of fertility, long life and generosity (plus the color silver stands for fortune), is a popular New Year’s Eve dish in many cultures, and especially for those of Scandinavian, German origin. and Polish. Marinated herring, a small oily fish, is often served on New Year’s Eve smorgasbords.
Herring has been a standard Scandinavian, Dutch, and Northern European dish since the Middle Ages, in part due to its abundance – of which it has become a symbol, making it a popular and lucky New Year’s tradition.
