Lucky Eats

Posted by Rebekah Lowe / Saturday, December 31st, 2011

These New Year’s dishes and desserts are said to bring about good fortune in the coming year!

Pork & Ham
Pigs root forward as they eat, symbolizing progress in the future. (Eating chicken on New Year’s is considered bad luck; they scratch backward.)

St. Basil’s Cake
This Greek cake with a coin baked inside brings luck to the person who gets the slice with the coin!

Grapes
Eating 12 grapes at midnight is a Spanish tradition that foretells the eater’s luck in each month of the upcoming year.

Hoppin’ John & Greens
This Southern dish includes black-eyed peas, which represent coins, and greens, which represent money.

Oliebollen
The round shape of these Dutch fried dough balls with raisins and currants signifies coming full circle.

–Rebekah Lowe

Lusoimages/shuttestock.com (black-eyed peas); Michael C. Gray/shuttestock.com (ham); Richard M Lee /shuttestock.com (cake); Claire VD/shuttestock.com (grapes); Gtranquillity/shuttestock.com (olliebollen)

Tags: food, lucky eats, new year, northern virginai magazine, Northern Virginia, NoVA