Many people hoping for a good 2024 are turning to foods traditionally thought as bringing good luck for the New Year. Here are some of the foods people cook up on New Year’s Day:

• Black-Eyed Peas. Legend has it that if you want to bring good luck in the new year, you need to eat 365 black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day—one for every day of the year!
• Greens. This one might seem obvious, but collard greens are the color of paper money, so they’re thought to symbolize a prosperous year ahead.
• Onions. The Greek tradition of hanging a bag of onions on your door is meant to symbolize growth and rebirth.
• Champagne. A bottle of bubbly is often thought of as a symbol of luxury.
• Tamales. In Mexico, the tradition of making tamales symbolizes family.
• Rice. If you’ve ever seen rice thrown at a wedding ceremony, you already know that it can be a symbol of prosperity and fertility.
• Doughnuts. In the Netherlands, eating fried doughnut-like pastries called oliebollen is said to be lucky.
• Soft Pretzels. Many Germans ring in the New Year with a big soft pretzel to symbolize good luck, health, and prosperity in the year ahead.
• Buttered Bread. An old Irish custom considers New Year’s Day to be known as the Day of Buttered Bread. The tradition of leaving a slice of bread with butter on it outside your door was a way to banish hunger.
• Pork. Need some inspiration this year? Take a cue from pigs who are known to push forward as they eat. (And we want to move forward, not backward in the new year.) This is just one reason why pork is considered to be lucky on New Year’s.
• Grapes. Here’s a fun New Year’s tradition: as soon as the clock strikes midnight, eat 12 grapes as fast as you can. It’s a good luck custom in Spain and Mexico to represent the 12 months of the year.
• Pomegranates. Pomegranate is said to bring fertility and life to those who eat them.

Source: The Pioneer Woman

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