New Year’s Eve can be a very superstitious night. Eat the wrong food or sip the wrong drink, and you may be setting yourself up for an abysmally unlucky new year. If you’re seeking a specific type of outcome, check out the dishes listed below. Each brings a guarantee for the year to come, if eaten as you’re welcoming in the new year.
Wealth
If 2012 has left you broke, consider making a batch of Hoppin’ John. Traditionally associated with the South, Hoppin’ John is a dish made from black eyed peas and collard greens. The greens are meant to represent paper money, while the beans are seen as symbolic coins. Families eat the dish shortly after midnight in order to be blessed with financial security. The origins of the tradition date back to the Civil War. Union troops often stripped farms of livestock and crops, but overlooked fields of black eyed peas, thereby keeping surviving Southerners from starving.
Vitality
Feeling fatalistic about your age, or in the midst of a mid-life crisis? Make sure to eat some extra long noodles on New Year’s Eve. The Chinese believe that eating long noodles on New Year’s will promote a long life. (Granted, the Chinese New Year isn’t in January, but the principle should still hold.) There is one catch: the noodle must not be broken mid-slurp, or the ‘lengthening’ of one’s life is no longer possible. Noodles with length include Soba, Rice, Wheat, or Chow Mein. They can be eaten alone or incorporated into a tasty stir fry.
Abundance
Lacking in quantity? Then snack on a pomegranates! Mediterranean cultures believe that the fruit promotes fertility, as well as abundance. Pomegranates are smashed on a home’s threshold on New Year’s Eve. The more seeds that are broken apart, the more luck there will be for the smasher. If you prefer to not make a mess, pomegranate seeds can also make an instant appetizer or be added to different recipes for a burst of sweet flavor.
Prosperity
Hoping to land a new job in the coming months? Order pork! Pig is believed to be the luckiest of all meat because of its plump appearance (which is a characteristic of good fortune) and because of its propensity to ‘root forward,’ a habit linked to progress. There are no restrictions on how the pig must be eaten. Whether you’re frying up a BLT for dinner right before heading out to a New Year’s party or eating a sophisticated loin at a five-star restaurant, this little piggie will help you start 2013 off on the right hoof.
Even without eating anything special, Cater2.me is feeling pretty darn lucky when reflecting on 2012. We’re excited to scrape the last bit off our plates and present you with another 365 days worth of amazing meals and service!
