Every family has their own traditions for the New Year’s Eve celebration, ranging from simple champagne toasts, to dancing parties, and even watching the ball drop. But the best traditions are always the ones involving food! Here we’ve selected the most popular ones and how to adopt them for your New Year’s celebration, making the passage even more special (and delicious). Check them out!
New Year’s Champagne with Grapes
A popular tradition to bring good luck for the new year ahead is by quickly eating a dozen grapes at midnight, symbolizing the twelve months. It is said that the fruit predicts the year ahead: each sweet grape represents a good month and each sour grape represents a rocky month. A great way to take part in the tradition is by serving the grapes in a flute with Champagne for the adults or with a non-alcoholic drink for the children. It is a fun and simple tradition that any family can start!
Pomegranate
Pomegranate is another fruit that is known to bring good fortune. In Greece, when the new year turns, it is used to smash a pomegranate on the floor in front of a door to break it open and reveal the seeds, symbolizing prosperity and good fortune. The more seeds, the more luck. To join in on the tradition and adapt it to your New Year's Eve Party, how about preparing this delicious recipe that includes lots of delicious pomegranate seeds?
Ring-Shaped Foods
To start the new year on the right foot, seek out ring-shaped foods for breakfast. Consider bagels or doughnuts for a delicious breakfast or brunch, representing the year coming full circle. This amazing recipe from Sprinkle Some Sugar is perfect for it: it is delicious, only takes 25 minutes to be ready and the mix of apple cider and cinnamon spice sugar is fun and festive to celebrate the holiday.
Pork
The custom of eating pork on New Year’s is based on the idea that pigs symbolize progress. The animal pushes forward, rooting itself in the ground before moving. Thanks to its rich fat content, it also signifies wealth and prosperity in some countries. This delicious recipe from Love Foodies is perfect for the New Year’s Eve: despite only taking 35 minutes, this meal is incredibly delicious. It’s the right choice when you want to have the perfect dinner but still want to have plenty of time to celebrate with the family.
Fish
Fish is the perfect lucky choice to start the new year:
- Fish scales resemble coins, symbolizing wealth
- They travel in schools, representing prosperity
- And they swim forward, symbolizing progress
In Japan, shrimp is consumed for long life, herring roe for fertility, and dried sardines for a good harvest. And the best part: it’s very likely that this option will comply with whatever New Year’s dietary resolutions you may have made. Check out this super easy oven roasted fish from Bon Appétit!
Lentils
Lentils are a popular tradition for the New Year’s Eve, especially in Italy and Brazil. The meal is known to bring luck since the Roman times! This delicious Roasted Sweet Potato and Lentils salad from Running With Tweezers is the perfect addition for your holiday menu. Try it!
Cake
In Greece, baking a coin into a round cake is a lucky New Year’s Eve tradition. At midnight or after the main meal, the cake is cut and distributed to guests in order of age, and whoever finds the coin gets a year of good luck. Why don’t you try it? This delicious recipe from Ashlee Marie is perfect for the celebration!
What do you think of our selection of lucky foods? Which of these traditions do you already have on our family and which will you be starting? Let us know on the comment section below and check out our Articles Page and Facebook for more amazing ideas!
