New Year’s Eve brings with it magic, trepidation, anticipation and desire. The change of the year always puts us in turmoil and excitement. Here’s the list of some interesting habits.
Flavors and Knowledge
Dec 30
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Buongiorno amici:
The countdown to 2022 has begun: time to take stock, but also for wishes and good intentions and, above all, for Omicron-free health. In every part of the world, propitiatory foods appear at the end and beginning of each year. So I have decided to compile a list of mandatory lucky foods on the table on December 31st. I remember, as a child, my grandmother Algisa reciting the list to us near the smoky fireplace in her farmhouse. Some things get embedded in the subconscious and never fade away, and in my family, we don’t mess around when confronted with traditions.
New Year: all lucky foods
1. Lentils They are the lucky food par excellence everywhere. Their round and flattened shape recall coins; according to tradition, each corresponds to a penny. Therefore, the more you eat, the more money will come. Usually accompanied by zampone (stuffed pig foot), or cotechino-style sausage, it is customary to eat lentils at the stroke of midnight.
2. Beans. Consumed primarily in the southern part of the United States. Eating black ones is auspicious. The purpose is the same as the lentils: they symbolize coins and are considered carriers of wealth and abundance.
3. Rice. Just as it is a ritual to throw it at weddings on newlyweds who have just left the church to wish abundance and fertility, on New Year’s Eve, it would be perfect to eat a risotto to stay on the subject of luck. But if you have another type of menu, you can always sprinkle a handful raw to decorate the table or present it in pretty bowls.
4. Pig. Why are piggy banks shaped like a little pigs? This animal, which searches for food with its nose extended forward, symbolizes progress, and its flesh symbolizes good luck, gains, and satiety. So you can always have a cotechino sausage instead of an entire roasted pork loin with bitter apples. The idea is to have some pork products on the table.
{Image Attribution via Lucas Vinicius Peixoto}
5. Chili. The red horn is a very common amulet in Naples against envy, evil eye, and all kinds of troubles. Often they are seen, reproduced in plastic, hanging from the mirrors of cars. The reason is that, since the Neolithic Age, the inhabitants of the huts used to hang animal horns on the door, a symbol of power and fertility. In addition, its red color is itself a good luck charm. To this day, Italians wear red undergarments on New Year’s Eve.
6. Green. Green vegetables as greenbacks, referring to dollars. Eating green vegetables such as beets, courgettes, cabbage, chicory, and broccoli on New Year’s Eve could bring you money and wealth as a gift. In addition, you’ll have good health.
7. Noodles. The typical dish of Asian cuisine, noodles made with rice flour, symbolize longevity. Use great care when cooking them, and turning them with a wooden fork is preferable. The idea is to avoid the break. But, of course, if you are a traditionalist like me, you can always replace them with spaghetti. In China, staying in the East, it is customary to eat fish, served whole, with the head and tail symbolizing the beginning and end (and therefore the entire life cycle).
Fruit that brings good luck In addition to the actual dishes, it is a good omen to eat different types of fruit on New Year’s Eve.
8. Grapes. This fruit represents abundance. In Spain, rules the tradition of eating 12 grapes at midnight, one for each stroke of the Real Casa de Correos clock in Puerta del Sol, perhaps the most famous squares in Madrid. Also, in Italy, according to an ancient peasant tradition, one should eat 12 grapes, one for each month, to obtain abundance all year round.
9. Mandarins. For Chinese Feng Shui, Mandarin is one of the good luck charms par excellence, thanks to its spherical shape that recalls infinity. Not surprisingly, for the Chinese New Year, tangerines are given to guests as a sign of good wishes on the last of the year because it is considered a symbol capable of bringing prosperity, fertility, and longevity. Using them to decorate the New Year’s table is also a good omen.
10. Pomegranate. Loved by the goddesses Venus and Juno and considered sacred in Greek and Roman mythology. In many paintings, the goddesses appear with pomegranate in hand. Hence the idea that it is a symbol of fertility and wealth. In Greece today, it is customary to drop them on the ground in front of the door to see how many grains roll on the floor and how much money will arrive. Likewise, Greek women about to get married eat this fruit as an omen of fertility.
11. I am superstitious. Therefore, I’ll skip 11.
12. Round-shaped fruit. Apples, oranges, grapefruit, and persimmons. In the Philippines, it is good to eat round-shaped fruit, whose shape always resembles that of coins. The ideal would be to eat 13, which brings good luck. The number 12 resumes at least symbolically for the 12 months of the year.
13. Dried fruit. Have you ever heard the saying “having a wedding with dried figs?” For the ancient Romans, dried fruit, although inexpensive, was an auspicious symbol, especially during weddings. It is a good luck charm, especially in France, where the newlywed must eat 13 types of dried fruit. In my family, we are satisfied in eating seven on New Year’s Eve: walnuts, hazelnuts, peanuts, raisins, almonds, figs, and dates.
Here’s my list of the lucky sweets to include on your New Year’s eve dinner.
Chocolate coins. It is customary to prepare a special sweet bread cake, the “vassilopitta” in Greece. The inside contains hidden coins, and luck will go to those who discover them in their slice. This tradition is now widespread also in the United States. So without breaking our teeth by eating dessert, you can replace them with chocolate ones scattered on the table auspiciously.
Marzipan Almond paste symbolizes wealth. Its name derives from the Arabic “mauthaban,” which means “coin.” Marzipan is typical of Southern Italy, and its tradition is mainly rooted in Sicily, where artisanal artistry shapes the paste into lovely fruit and vegetables. Also, in Austria, some areas of Switzerland, and South Tyrol, marzipan pigs symbolize strength and prosperity. They are particularly suitable for vegetarians who have left out the cotechino pork sausage during dinner.
Struffoli. If you have made a New Year’s Eve dinner based on luck, you cannot renounce the struffoli, small fried balls coated with honey and decorated with silver sprinkles, once again a symbol of abundance and money.
What not to eat on New Year’s Eve. To conclude my roundup of lucky foods, I want to suggest what you absolutely must avoid for the New Year’s dinner.
An absolute ban on bringing shrimps and lobsters to the table because they walk backward symbolizes stalling and regression. Furthermore, birds are banned to avoid the danger that luck “flies away.”
In conclusion, dear friends, I have shared my list of good-luck foods for the New Year’s Eve dinner. Regardless of which you decide to cook and eat, what remains essential is the time and the people surrounding you.
The table is sacred, especially when filled with the ones that matter.
Happy 2023! Stay safe and healthy! Chef Walter and staff.
Chef Walters 2023 Food Tours
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