New Year's Food Traditions

[DollarBill]

While growing up I remember my Dad fixing Corned Beef and cabbage for good luck on New Years (Have Irish in my blood). After living in other Countries I've picked up on some of their traditions too. So my New Years food list will go like this:

- Twelve grapes at Midnight (Picked up in Spain, one grape for each month)
- Soba for breakfast (Picked up in Japan)
- Hoppin John & corn bread for lunch (Southern thing, I add ham or sausage and collard green to my Hoppin John)
- Corned beef and cabbage for dinner (Irish)

What are you going to eat?

[sheepstache]

I was just thinking of posting about this! The tradition I know of is to eat black-eyed peas and cabbage. I think the peas are good luck and the cabbage represents money. And it's a cheap meal so that's sort of self-fulfilling!

[Thegoblinchief]

No real traditions here. If any champagne lasts to the next day, we usually make mimosas for breakfast though :)

[1967mama]

No traditions here either. The kids eat the gingerbread house. That's about it!

[DollarBill]

Maybe it has more to do with that these were the foods that were more available during harsh winters in the early days. Pickled, salted, dried.
http://seriouseats.com/2014/12/good-luck-food-new-year-pork-sauerkraut-lentil-herring-collards-hoppin-john.html

Items that bring good luck/health/riches:
- Pork (Pigs relentlessly root ahead as they eat, richness of meat, fatty)
- Black eyed pea's/Beans (Looks like coins, symbolize good things to come: the promise of germination when planted, and increasing significantly in size when cooked)
- Peas for pennies
- Greens for dollars
- Cornbread for gold
- Ring shaped baked goods (Ring for riches)
- Long noodles (Long healthy lives)
- Fish (Rich fats, scales, migration)
- Sauerkraut (Luck/money)

Items to stay away from:
- Any chicken/turkey items (they scratch backward and peck for their food)

[Elliot]

We always have black eyed peas, greens or cabbage, and cornbread. For coin pieces, folding money, and gold, of course.

[3Mer]

We don't do this for good luck/health, but we do make the same foods most New Year's Eves.  Usually it is just me and my daughter (she's now 16).   We make BBQ meatballs and Little Smokies (I mix them together in the same crockpot), Veggies and Dip, Cheese/Crackers, these super awesome Parmesan Cheesy mini Pumpernickel appetizers, Chips / Salsa, Guacamole.   Oh, and I always get us each a bottle of the Coca-Cola from Mexico to have at midnight (if it lasts that long).   I don't know why - this is just the tradition at our house.  We snack and watch the Times Square show and ball drop on TV.

[Metta]

No real traditions here. If any champagne lasts to the next day, we usually make mimosas for breakfast though :)

How do you keep the champagne fizzy?

[Rural]

I think most of the southerners here will give you some version of blackeyed peas (alone or in Hoppin John) for wealth, greens for health, and hoecakes or cornbread - though I never heard it was for gold; it's just unreasonable to eat peas and greens without.

[Metta]

We adopted the Southern tradition of black eye peas and cabbage for luck. Tonight I shall make it curried Indian style (Lobia Masala).

[socaso]

Another Southern tradition is a pig's foot on New year's day. That's a bridge too far for me, though. Around these parts we like to do a brunch with oysters and sparkling wine. That is neither Mustachian or particularly lucky but we do prepare it at home so it's also not wildly expensive.

[Rural]

Another Southern tradition is a pig's foot on New year's day. That's a bridge too far for me, though. Around these parts we like to do a brunch with oysters and sparkling wine. That is neither Mustachian or particularly lucky but we do prepare it at home so it's also not wildly expensive.

Yeah, I've eaten pig's foot, but I'm not that hungry anymore. However, some fatback in the greens won't hurt them any. :-)

[HappierAtHome]

Not a food tradition, but due to some Scottish family we do "first foot in the door" on new year's day. I think traditionally it did involve whiskey.

[MrsPete]

I do an updated version of the traditional black-eyed-peas and collard greens.  I make a layered meal in a flat, rim-soup dish, layered as such:

Top garnish:  Crumbled bacon
Big dollop of black-eyed peas, cooked well but not mushy -- not canned -- mixed with a bit of chopped, uncooked onion
Equal-sized dollop of fresh collards, wilted nicely in a frying pan, sprinkled with salt, no other seasonings 
Base:  A big chunk of cornbread, and I make THE BEST, containing a bit of real corn and sour cream, it's smooth, not gritty

Best with a tall glass of cold milk

[Zikoris]

I don't think I'm going to be eating anything this year - I came down pretty sick yesterday :( So some combination of juice, soy milk, and tea. Maybe cold cereal if I feel up to it :)

[NinetyFour]

Not a food tradition, but due to some Scottish family we do "first foot in the door" on new year's day. I think traditionally it did involve whiskey.

Had to Google that.  Had never heard of that--I have Scottish roots, too, but that tradition didn't make it to my family (that I am aware of).  Cool--learned something today!

[mochila]

Black-eyed peas! I can hardly wait, as I have them only once a year, and only since I've lived in the South. Another year, another sacrilegious vegan spin on Hoppin' John. This year's will incorporate pimentón I bought in Spain while walking the Camino this past summer. I'm also making panisses, which might also get some pimentón.

For lunch we're going to a vegan Vietnamese place, where I will finally try pho. Does it usually contain long noodles for long life (but not long enough to outlast one's stash)? Again, I can hardly wait.

Yet this is the time of year to start dieting. Clearly I'm doing it wrong.

[Lian]

Black-eyed peas. Every new years day for as long as I can remember.

[HappierAtHome]

Not a food tradition, but due to some Scottish family we do "first foot in the door" on new year's day. I think traditionally it did involve whiskey.

Had to Google that.  Had never heard of that--I have Scottish roots, too, but that tradition didn't make it to my family (that I am aware of).  Cool--learned something today!

Did your research include that it's bad luck for it to be a blonde who's first foot through the door, due to VIKINGS?! I look like a Viking and I can't be first foot in the door for the Scottish rellies as a result. Instead they have to come to my house and share their dark-haired good luck with me :-)

Also: you have Scottish roots, I have Scottish rellies - we're probably related!!

[MrsPete]

Not a food tradition, but due to some Scottish family we do "first foot in the door" on new year's day. I think traditionally it did involve whiskey.

I encountered this tradition in a novel -- historical fiction novel -- and was interested enough to look it up.  Apparently it's good luck if the "first foot" that crosses your threshold after midnight on January 1 is a tall, dark-haired male.  (If you ARE a tall, dark-haired male, no fair leaving and coming in your own door.)  The first-footer traditionally brings small gifts, whiskey being a favorite.  Other gifts might include freshly baked bread or other treats, salt, or spices. 

[OSUBearCub]

The German/Scandinavian side of my family insisted on roast pork and sauerkraut on New Years day.  (Fairly certain this is more German than Scandinavian due to lack of any sort of preserved fish product lol).

I usually set it up in the crock pot, refrigerate it overnight, and start it cooking in the morning but completely forgot this year.  Let's hope I didn't jinx an entire year!

[Metta]

The German/Scandinavian side of my family insisted on roast pork and sauerkraut on New Years day.  (Fairly certain this is more German than Scandinavian due to lack of any sort of preserved fish product lol).

I usually set it up in the crock pot, refrigerate it overnight, and start it cooking in the morning but completely forgot this year.  Let's hope I didn't jinx an entire year!

Failing to eat your lucky New Years food is a devastating mistake! Why one year we failed to eat blackeyed peas until we saw them on deep discount at the grocery store later in January and there were terrible repercussions. We did not win the lottery that year (though it had been in our plan), I did not get a job with a high-powered salary with low-powered work (despite thinking positively), and I tripped while hiking, skinning my knee and hands. Needless to say we have never made that unfortunate food mistake again. ;)

[Zarya]

The tradition in much of central Europe is that you must have pork and cabbage for New Year's, so we do. The past couple of years we've actually been roasting a pig's head and serving it with kraut or cabbage. They are cheap (this one cost us €4.17 and lasted several meals) and make great taco filing, especially the cheek meat. Plus, the crispy ear is the best dog snack in the world and our neighbor's dog is forever devoted to us because we share it with her each year.

Pigs are generally an important New Year's symbol and so we also give each other little pigs -- often made of marzipan and decorated with other good luck symbols (horseshoes, four-leave clovers, etc.).

An interesting tradition in Austria is melting metal to tell your fortune for the next year. It's fun and we usually do it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molybdomancy

[Mississippi Mudstache]

Black eyed peas, collards, and corn bread has always been my family's tradition. We celebrated with my wife's family this year and had corned beef and cabbage.

[OSUBearCub]

The German/Scandinavian side of my family insisted on roast pork and sauerkraut on New Years day.  (Fairly certain this is more German than Scandinavian due to lack of any sort of preserved fish product lol).

I usually set it up in the crock pot, refrigerate it overnight, and start it cooking in the morning but completely forgot this year.  Let's hope I didn't jinx an entire year!

Failing to eat your lucky New Years food is a devastating mistake! Why one year we failed to eat blackeyed peas until we saw them on deep discount at the grocery store later in January and there were terrible repercussions. We did not win the lottery that year (though it had been in our plan), I did not get a job with a high-powered salary with low-powered work (despite thinking positively), and I tripped while hiking, skinning my knee and hands. Needless to say we have never made that unfortunate food mistake again. ;)

Ye gads!  I guess I know what I'm eating tonight...along with my scratch-and-wins. :-)

[lizzzi]

We always ate pork on New Year's Day for "luck." I have no idea why--we are not German or Scandinavian. My mother always had a pair of tall, bayberry candles, and kept them lit all day on New Year's Day, again for "luck." I have never done that, because I think it's dangerous. The bayberry smells nice, though.

[Emilyngh]

The tradition in my family is pork sausage (wurst) and cabbage (either sauerkraut or blaukraut), so we had vegetarian sausage, sauerkraut, and homemade kartoffel kloesse (potato dumplings).

[rockstache]

Not a food tradition, but due to some Scottish family we do "first foot in the door" on new year's day. I think traditionally it did involve whiskey.

I encountered this tradition in a novel -- historical fiction novel -- and was interested enough to look it up.  Apparently it's good luck if the "first foot" that crosses your threshold after midnight on January 1 is a tall, dark-haired male.  (If you ARE a tall, dark-haired male, no fair leaving and coming in your own door.)  The first-footer traditionally brings small gifts, whiskey being a favorite.  Other gifts might include freshly baked bread or other treats, salt, or spices.

Outlander fan?

[GuitarStv]

My wife follows some sort of Chinese tradition of putting out a certain number of round fruits for New Years.  She does it for both Chinese and regular New Years to "Hedge her bets with the Gods" . . . which always makes me crack up.

[CommonCents]

Not a food tradition, but due to some Scottish family we do "first foot in the door" on new year's day. I think traditionally it did involve whiskey.

I encountered this tradition in a novel -- historical fiction novel -- and was interested enough to look it up.  Apparently it's good luck if the "first foot" that crosses your threshold after midnight on January 1 is a tall, dark-haired male.  (If you ARE a tall, dark-haired male, no fair leaving and coming in your own door.)  The first-footer traditionally brings small gifts, whiskey being a favorite.  Other gifts might include freshly baked bread or other treats, salt, or spices.

Outlander fan?

I read it in Scarlett, the "sequel" to Gone with the Wind (only discovered much later it wasn't by the same person.  What can I say, I was about 12 then.)  Dark, head of clan, and I forget the third thing (maybe pregnant?), made it extra lucky.  First footer didn't have to bring anything but did have to eat a bite in every home for it to count.  Men got to wash it down with whiskey.

[Apples]

Pork and sauerkraut is a PA Dutch (German) tradition.  We eat it "for luck" but some of my friends' families eat it "for money" or "for health".  Pretty much everyone I know eats it here.  Introduced it to my husband when he moved here :p