Unlike the traditional turkey on Thanksgiving Day, the New Year’s Day meal is unique to partygoers and hosts personal tastes and appetizes. However, there are myths about the dishes that should and should not be eaten on this day to ring in the new year with luck, comfort, and fortune.
It has also been said that certain food items could prohibit you from a good year. There are also food superstitions from all over the world passed down for hundreds of years that imply how to have a good year. Curious? Keep reading and find out how you can feed your family a good meal and good luck in 2018.
Food For a Good Year
- Grapes: A Spanish tradition entails eating 12 grapes on New Year’s Day for each month of the year. Every grape should be eaten one by one and a wish should be made with each grape. Watch out, if a sour grape is encountered that means that month could be sour too.
- Anything Yellow: Yellow food items on New Year’s Day signify gold and good luck for the year.
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- Black-Eyed Peas: Slaves created the stigma behind black-eyed peas becoming a symbol of hope when eaten on January 1st. The quantity of the peas eaten matters. The more you eat, the more luck you’re destined to have in the year.
- Greens: Along with black-eyed peas, slaves associated greens to luck and wealth. Actually, any green leafy vegetable symbolizes money in the future.
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- Green Lentils: Green lentils are believed to bring good fortune because they are round and green.
- Pork: I know, there’s no way your digestive system is going to believe pork is good luck. But it’s another southern superstition considered lucky because pigs move forward when searching for food.
- Rice: Rice is great to eat on New Year’s Day because it is a symbol of abundance due to it swelling when cooked.
For a Bad Year
- Turkey & Chicken: First off, after Thanksgiving and Christmas you should be tired of eating turkey by now. Turkey and Chicken are bad to eat on this day because they scratch backward when finding food. No one wants to move backward- it’s a new year!
- Crab & Lobster: These sea creatures are bad to eat because of them walking sideways. It’s all about moving forward.
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- Bottom-Feeding fish: Catfish, halibut, and other bottom-feeding fish are assessed as bad to eat on New Year’s Day because they eat from the bottom of the sea. It has been “said” that if you eat in this group of fish, on New Year’s Day you will experience struggle to make ends meet throughout the rest of the year.
That sums up the New Year’s Day food superstitions list. Choose wisely and start 2018 off with your best foot (or food) forward!
