6 New Year’s Food Traditions from Around the World

When the clock strikes midnight, what will you be eating? Though you may be focused on who to kiss, you should be thinking about what’s on your plate! Those first bites might make all the difference in ensuring you have a sweet, healthy, and prosperous new year. Here’s a quick look at new year’s food traditions across the world, what you should eat, and why. 

Grapes

In Spain and in the Caribbean, you start the new year by eating 12 grapes, one for every month of the year. The practice goes back to 1909 when grape growers started it to help with a grape surplus (how practical). In some countries the taste of the grape will signal the type of month you have (sour grape might mean a bad month) and in some countries you make a wish as you eat the grape. Regardless, eat them fast, you’ll have to do it before the countdown ends or immediately after midnight.

Cooked Greens and Legumes

Want to have a flush year? Try cooked greens (cabbage, kale, spinach, etc.). Since the greens look like, you guessed it, folded money, they point toward economic prosperity. Likewise legumes (peas, beans, and lentils) resemble coins, so you’ll want to stock up on those too. In Brazil, the first meal of the year is traditionally lentil soup, in the U.S., it’s black eyed peas. The more you eat, the larger your fortune. So go back for seconds.

Round Fruits

Round fruits (like oranges) are sweet and look like coins, both of which you want in the new year. In many countries, it’s customary to eat a few (or a lot) to start the year off on the right foot. Like grapes, 12 seems to be a common number. [pagebreak]

Pork

And you thought it was just because pernil tastes so good? Nope. Pork symbolizes progress: pigs always move forward, stable and rooted. Roasted pig is of course a staple in many Latin American countries but you’ll also find it in Europe and the U.S. Here, in the states, pork also signifies wealth and prosperity (because pork is so rich).

Fish

Pork isn’t the only main dish, there’s also fish. Though it might seem like an odd choice, it’s incredibly logical. Before the time of refrigeration fresh food (that means just-caught) was the order of the day in many Caribbean countries. And since the Catholic Church has a policy against eating red meat on religious holidays… fish satisfied those constraints. In some countries fish signifies good luck and a good harvest.

Cakes

Of course, you’ll want to have a sweet year. Around the world, you’ll find most countries place an emphasis on round or ring-shaped pastries, like a rosca de reyes. There’s also a wide tradition of placing a hidden item (a toy, a nut, etc.) in the cake for others to find; symbolizing fortune and luck.

And What You Don’t Want to Eat….  

It makes sense that the superstitions would work both ways! Stay away from lobsters (which walk backward) and chickens (which scratch backward and could lead to dwelling on the past). And make sure to leave some food on your table and plate, so you’ll always have enough in the new year.