History of lucky food traditions including tamales, pork and sauerkraut

While many Americans associate the New Year with caviar, champagne, and raucousness, many people around the world celebrate the holiday with “lucky” dishes traditionally eaten to bring good luck for the coming year. .

However, depending on where you live, the food on your table may differ.

Below is a history of notable New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day food traditions around the world and what they stand for.

black eyed peas, cornbread, collard greens

Southerners are probably familiar with this New Year’s Day menu.

Cowpea, collard greens, and cornbread served on holidays are a popular tradition not just in the South, but across the country. According to AllRecipes.com, the words “peas for pennies, greens for dollars, cornbread for money” are associated with the food.

Related: Foods to leave behind in 2022

Cowpea is also associated with “mystical and mystical powers that bring good luck,” says Southern food researcher John Egerton in his book Southern Food: At Home, On The Road, By History. In the report.

The green color of collard greens represents money, and the yellow color of cornbread represents gold for a prosperous New Year.

Hoppin’ John

This is a staple menu in the southern United States and usually consists of cowpea, rice and pork. It has its roots in enslaved Africans brought to the United States in the 19th century, food historian and cookbook author John Martin Taylor told The Washington Post.

“In the American South, where both rice and cowpea were available, the natives of West Africa were able to create a dish reminiscent of their homeland: a modest combination of rice and beans, eventually known as Hoppin’ John. It is now available.” reported.

Exactly how this dish came to symbolize good luck remains unknown among historians, but it was Christmas when enslaved Africans were given a rare leave from harvesting and planting. Some believe that it began during the period between

Taylor told the outlet that this is a good time to appreciate past crops and build anticipation for next season. playing a role.

It is often served with collard greens and cornbread. Some food historians believe that the dish’s unusual name derives from the French word “poix pigeon,” which means dried peas and is pronounced “pau pigeon.” According to History.com, this may sound like “Hoppin’ John” to English speakers.

lentil

At midnight, you might see Italians ringing in the New Year by eating lentil dishes as part of multiple courses each year.

“Lentils, or lentils, are believed to bring good luck in Italy, and eating them just after midnight on New Year’s Day is a tradition said to date back to ancient Rome.”Europe.
Ancient Romans used to give pouches full of round, coin-shaped lentils as gifts to wish their friends good luck and prosperity in the New Year, the outlet reports.

The tradition was eventually brought to the United States by the Portuguese and Spaniards in the 16th century, says History.com.

pork and sauerkraut

Head to Pennsylvania, Ohio, and other neighborhoods and you’ll find many people enjoying pork and sauerkraut on New Year’s Day.

According to History.com, this dish is said to bring good luck and progress. Sauerkraut is made from cabbage. Cabbage is associated with symbolic wealth, prosperity and longevity due to its long strands.

According to the history website, the dish is a Germanic tradition and was brought to America by the Pennsylvania Dutch.
“Fresh pork was a staple of the Christmas and New Year meals of the early settlers, as it was the time of the winter pig slaughter. Winter was also the cabbage harvest season, so sauerkraut was served as a side dish. ‘, it says.

Soba

Toshikoshi soba is a soup made with buckwheat noodles called toshikoshi soba, which is meant to pray for good luck from one year to the next.

The dish is a long-standing New Year’s Eve tradition in Japan and is now practiced in many parts of the world, including the United States.
According to the Japan Times, the word “toshikoshi” means “climbing or jumping from the old year to the new year.” Long, thin noodles represent health and longevity and date back to the 13th or 14th century. It dates back to “on New Year’s Eve, when a temple or a wealthy lord decided to serve soba to a hungry populace.”

king cake

King cake is a delicious donut-like dessert famous in New Orleans and Mardi Gras. Eating this means feeling satisfied at the end of the Christmas holiday season and ready to welcome the new year.

Related: Beyond Dry January: The Rise of Non-Alcoholic Beverages in the Adult Beverage Market

If you are lucky enough to offer a slice with gold coins or a small plastic baby, you will have a particularly wealthy and prosperous New Year. Do it.

tamales

Tamales, a bundle of meat- and cheese-stuffed masa wrapped in corn husks and steamed, are a holiday staple for many people in Mexico, Central America, South America, and the southwestern United States.

According to History.com, Mexicans enjoy the dish from December 12, the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, to January 6, the day of the Three Kings. Tamales date back to Mesoamerican cultures around 8000-5000 BC.
Tamales symbolize more than food.

“They bring the whole family together. It’s art, it’s hard work, it’s repetitive work, but it’s all family ties,” explains Arizona-based family-owned grocery chain Bashas. . “This is a very special time that connects generations and is an event that families look forward to each year, making it a fun and meaningful get-together that is special.”

12 Lucky Grapes

According to History.com, in Spain and parts of Latin America, the tradition of harvesting 12 grapes at the stroke of midnight, one for each clock chime, will bring good luck for the coming year.

Tracing the tradition of the 12 lucky grapes, or uvas de la suerte, he pitched the idea to a grape farmer in Alicante, Spain, who had a surplus harvest in the early 1900s, reports Atlas Obscura.

But according to food writer Jeff Koehler, newspaper accounts of the tradition from the 1880s may have evolved from the Madrid bourgeoisie, who mimicked the French custom of drinking champagne and eating grapes on New Year’s Eve. There is

But avoid lobster and chicken

They’re all delicious, but there are some things you shouldn’t eat on New Year’s Eve, like lobster and chicken, to avoid bad luck this year.

Lobsters can go retrograde, so it’s believed that eating before midnight can set you back in the New Year. The same can be done for chickens, which can scratch their backs, and since they can fly, luck can fly away.

Editor’s Note: A version of this article was published on December 31, 2021.

The story was reported from Los Angeles and Cincinnati.