New Year’s Day is a holiday that is celebrated around the world – often through the joy of food. The wish for good luck in the new year is one that almost everyone shares, and many cultures have different dishes that are thought to bring luck into the new year.
In Italy, lentils are thought to bring luck because of their round shape, which is said to look like coins. The legumes are traditionally eaten after midnight on New Year’s Eve. The tradition reportedly dates back to the Ancient Romans, who would gift their friends a bag of lentils on New Year’s for good luck. Here’s a recipe for Italian lentils:
In Japan, soba noodles, which are buckwheat noodles in a hot dashi, mirin and soy sauce soup, are eaten on New Year’s Eve and Day. Eating the noodles is believed to bring long life and prosperity for the year ahead to the consumer. Longer noodles represent a long and happy life, while thinner noodles mean that they’re easier to cut, which is said to cut off the misfortune from the previous year and give the new year a fresh start. Here’s a recipe for Japanese soba noodles:
Eating a ring-shaped cake is said to bring good luck into the new year. Their round shape, like the lentils, is believed to look like coins, which will bring wealth into the new year. In Greece, they eat a cake called vasilopita, which is a zesty orange cake that has a coin baked inside. Whoever receives the slice with the coin in it will get extra luck and maybe even a small prize or gift. Here’s a recipe for vasilopita:
