Lucky New Year Foods From Around the World

Why some foods are considered lucky

Lucky foods tend to fall into a few groups. Coin-shaped foods like peas, lentils and round fruit stand for money. Green foods like collards and cabbage look like folded bills. Long foods like noodles represent a long life. Pork appears in many traditions because pigs root forward with their snouts, a symbol of progress. And sweet foods, from honey cakes to sugared doughnuts, express the simple wish for a sweet year.

There are also foods people avoid. In some traditions, lobster is skipped because it moves backward, and chicken is avoided because it scratches backward for food. Nobody has proved any of this works, of course, but a table full of meaning makes for a better party.

United States: Hoppin' John, greens and cornbread

In the American South, New Year's Day dinner almost always includes black-eyed peas, often cooked with rice and pork as Hoppin' John. The peas swell as they cook, a sign of growing prosperity. A popular saying puts it simply: "Eat poor on New Year's, eat fat the rest of the year."

Alongside the peas you'll usually find collard greens, which stand for paper money, and cornbread, whose golden color stands for gold. Some families leave one pea on each plate as an offering, while others count the peas they eat to predict how many lucky days are ahead.

Spain and Latin America: 12 grapes

At midnight in Spain, people eat 12 grapes, one with each chime of the clock, for 12 lucky months. The custom became popular in the early 20th century and spread across Latin America, where people often make a wish with each grape. Some say a sour grape predicts a tough month.

Tip for your party: choose small, seedless grapes and set out cups of exactly 12 before the countdown begins. Twelve chimes go by faster than you'd expect.

Europe and Brazil: lentils, pork and sauerkraut

In Italy, lentils are eaten after midnight on New Year's Eve, often with cotechino, a rich pork sausage, or zampone, a stuffed pig's trotter. The small round lentils resemble coins, so the more you eat, the more money you'll have. In Brazil, lentil soup or lentils with rice are also a popular first meal of the year for the same reason.

In Germany and among German-American families, especially in Pennsylvania, pork and sauerkraut is a classic New Year's Day meal. Pork stands for moving forward, while the long strands of cabbage are linked to a long life and wealth. Marzipan pigs are popular gifts in Germany and Austria around New Year as good-luck charms.

Japan: soba noodles and osechi

On New Year's Eve, Japanese families eat toshikoshi soba, which means "year-crossing noodles." The long buckwheat noodles symbolize long life, and because they cut easily, they also represent letting go of the hardships of the old year.

On New Year's Day, many families share osechi ryōri, beautiful boxes of small dishes, each with its own meaning. Black soybeans are eaten for health, herring roe for fertility and many children, and sweet rolled omelet for scholarship and culture. Mochi, sticky rice cakes, are also central to the season.

The Philippines: 12 round fruits

Filipino families often display 12 round fruits on the table at New Year, one for each month. Grapes, oranges, apples, melons and pomelos are common choices. Round shapes look like coins, so they invite prosperity. People also wear polka dots and keep coins in their pockets at midnight for the same reason.

Cakes with hidden coins and other sweet treats

In Greece, families cut the vasilopita, St. Basil's cake, on New Year's Day. A coin is baked inside, and whoever finds it in their slice has luck for the year. The first slices are traditionally cut for Christ, St. Basil or the household, then for each family member from oldest to youngest.

Similar traditions show up elsewhere. In Mexico and Spain, a figurine is hidden in the rosca de reyes eaten on January 6. In France, the galette des rois hides a small charm called a fève. If you try this at home, tell guests about the coin before they bite.

In the Netherlands, New Year's Eve means oliebollen, deep-fried dough balls dusted with powdered sugar, sold from stalls all winter. In Scotland, Hogmanay brings shortbread and black bun, a rich fruit cake wrapped in pastry, often carried by first-footers. Ring-shaped cakes and doughnuts are popular in several countries because a circle stands for a year coming full circle.

Building a lucky New Year menu

• Starter: A bowl of lentil soup or a small plate of Hoppin' John bites.
• Main: Roast pork with sauerkraut or braised greens.
• Side: Cornbread and a platter of soba noodle salad.
• At midnight: Cups of 12 grapes for everyone.
• Dessert: A coin cake inspired by vasilopita, plus a bowl of 12 round fruits.

You don't need every dish. Pick two or three traditions that suit your guests and explain the meaning as you serve them, which gives people something fun to talk about while you wait for midnight.