40 Recipes That Will Bring You Good Luck In The New Year (2024)

FAQs

What is traditional food for New Year's Day? ›

Many cultures and countries have particular "lucky" foods, and the southern United States is no exception. Greens, pork, and cornbread, as well as black-eyed peas, cowpeas, or beans, are some of the typical symbolic foods served on New Year's Day.

Along with black-eyed peas, some cultures believe that grapes, noodles, pork, or pomegranates can be considered lucky when eaten on New Year's.

A ubiquitous New Year's Day good luck food in Europe and the United States, leafy greens from kale to collards are eaten to represent money and wealth. In the American South, collard greens especially are eaten with two other New Year's good luck foods, black-eyed peas and cornbread, for some extra fortune.

Lobster, cows, and chicken are all considered unlucky animals to eat on New Year's because of how they move. Read on for more foods superstitious people try to avoid on the holiday.

Don't Clean the House on New Year's Day - You will wash away any good luck coming your way.

White Foods

Tofu, eggs, rice, cauliflower, white cheeses—say goodbye to them for the night. Instead, fill your New Year's table with other colorful foods. Greens of all kinds are said to bring wealth into your life, while anything yellow (think cornbread or lemon curd) is supposed to foretell prosperity and happiness.

Roast goose or chicken, stuffed with apples, is traditionally eaten for New Year's dinner. Eating as many pieces of meat as possible during New Year's dinner is believed to ensure happiness in the coming year, and a "bountiful table" will ensure wealth.

Chicken, Squab, or Anything with Wings

If it has wings, it can fly away - and that's what legend says about chicken on New Years. Eating chicken can cause your good luck to fly away, and well - we definitely don't want that. Make that Roasted Chicken later in January, just to be safe.

Pork. Ham is often a holiday centerpiece, but pork is specifically thought to bring good luck on New Year's Day. So why is pork a New Year's food tradition? First, it has to do with the way pigs behave differently than other animals.

What food represents money? ›

Often, black-eyed peas are served alongside other traditional Southern foods like collard greens and cornbread. The green color of collard greens represents money, and cornbread is associated with gold. Together, this meal is believed to bring financial prosperity.

According to Southern lore, you will have good luck for the entire year if you have the traditional New Year's Day supper. In the South, that means a meal of collard greens, hoppin' John, black-eyed peas, cornbread, and pot likker soup.

Around the world, luck-minded folks prefer pork (which roots forward) over chicken (which scratches backward) On New Year's. In Germany they prefer pork and sauerkraut (whose long strands lead to a long life). We think this pulled pork recipe would go good with any of our cabbage dishes.

Pork was believed to bring good luck because “the pig roots forward” for its food, as opposed to the backward scratching of an animal like a chicken. The Germans also believed that if the pork was rich in fat, it would signify prosperity in life, according to Stoltzfus Meats, a Pa.

This eastern European tradition of eating cabbage on New Year's—either as a dish or as cabbage rolls—is meant to signify luck, particularly on the financial side of things. People who eat cabbage on New Year's believe that it'll help them make more money in the year ahead.

It is a common practice in the southern United States to eat black-eyed peas on New Year's Day. The beans and leafy greens represent coins and money symbolizing luck, knowledge, and wealth. The tradition stems from several places including West Africa, Europe, and the south.