An important aspect of New Year festivities is food, specially conceived and created for the occasion. Affluence brings a special aura to celebrations and festivities, and weaves a fascinating and magical spell around the occasion. And while the common man may have to be content with just a little special, the rich and resourceful often make the celebrations out of the ordinary.
One delectable aspect, and perhaps the most evident and enjoyable one, is preparing, partaking and pampering oneself with foods that not only excite your taste buds but also strengthen conviviality and camaraderie. To enjoy and relish a scrumptious repast during New Year Celebrations, is a tradition that cuts across cultures and civilizations, nationalities and geographical boundaries, colour and class.
So, what do people eat on New Year Eve? What are the New Year’s food traditions around the world?
Some of the commonest but highly favoured food that engages the culinary talents that produce the magical and palate tingling dishes. They range from Black-eyed peas and rice of American South to Twelve grapes of Spain, Tamales of Mexico to Soba Noodles of Japan, and of course, the cakes like galette des rois of France to Kransekage, of Denmark and Norway.
New Year’s Day is indeed meant for food. And each food represents specific kind of good luck that it harbingers. As the new year arrives around the world, special cakes and breads abound, as do long noodles (representing long life), field peas (representing coins), herring (representing abundance) and pigs (representing good luck).
The particulars vary, but the general theme is the same. Perhaps more a western tradition, Enjoy food and drink to usher in a year of prosperity and happiness.
- Hoppin’ John
A legacy that the masters accepted with enthusiasm from their slaves may be a veritable staple of Low Country cooking but it is one dish the American South loves to prepare and share. A recipe that has been in existence since early 1847 reportedly derived its name in Charleston, South Carolina.
‘Hoppin’ John’ is a dish of pork-flavored field peas or black-eyed peas (symbolizing coins) and rice, frequently served with collards or other cooked greens (as they’re the color of money) and cornbread (the color of gold). The dish is said to bring good luck in the new year.
Different folklores trace the history and the name of this meal, but the current dish has its roots in African and West Indian traditions and was most likely brought over by slaves to North America. Though a part of New Year festivities for long, its recipe has been reinterpreted over the centuries by home and professional chefs.
2. Twelve grapes, Spain
In Spain as also in many Spanish speaking countries, the new year is ushered in with 12 grapes.
The custom began at the turn of the 20th century and was purportedly thought up by grape producers in the southern part of the country with a bumper crop.
The people of Spain traditionally watch a broadcast from Puerta del Sol in Madrid, where revelers gather in front of the square’s clock tower to ring in the New Year.
Those out in the square and those watching at home partake in an unusual annual tradition: At the stroke of midnight, they eat one grape for every toll of the clock bell. Some even prepare the grapes for the occasion – peeling and seeding them – to make sure they will be as efficient as possible when midnight comes.
3. Tamales, Mexico
Tamales is a favourite delicacy of Mexicans for most festive occasions and decidedly most favoured to ring in the new year. Tamales, corn dough stuffed with meat, cheese and other delicious additions and wrapped in a banana leaf or a corn husk, is unmissable on the new year eve. On New Year, it’s often served with menudo, a tripe and hominy soup that is famously good for hangovers.
In many families, groups of women gather together to make hundreds of little packets — with each person in charge of one aspect of the cooking process — to hand out to friends, family and neighbours.
Tamales are as fancied on special occasions as they are as in high- end restaurants and surprisingly also as street food.
4. Oliebollen, Netherlands
A doughnut-like fried oil balls, oliebol is traditionally made and consumed in the Netherlands during the New Year’s celebrations.
They are sold by street carts and are traditionally consumed on New Year’s Eve and at special celebratory fairs. These dumplings are made by dropping a scoop of dough spiked with currants or raisins into a deep fryer and then dusted with powdered sugar.
5. Marzipanschwein or Glücksschwein,
Austria and neighbor Germany call New Year’s Eve Sylvesterabend, or the eve of Saint Sylvester. Austrian revelers drink a red wine punch with cinnamon and spices, eat suckling pig for dinner and decorate the table with little pigs made of marzipan, called marzipanschwein.
Good luck pigs, or Glücksschwein, which are made of all sorts of things, are also common gifts throughout both Austria and Germany.
6. Soba noodles, Japan
Many Japanese slurp down bowls of delicious Soba noodles to welcome the new year.
In Japanese households, families eat buckwheat soba noodles, or toshikoshi soba, at midnight on New Year’s Eve to bid farewell to the year gone by and welcome the year to come.
The tradition dates back to the 17th century, and the long noodles symbolize longevity and prosperity.
In another custom called mochitsuki, friends and family spend the day before New Year pounding mochi rice cakes. Sweet, glutinous rice is washed, soaked, steamed and pounded into a smooth mass. Then guests take turns pinching off pieces to make into small buns that are later eaten for dessert, displaying the spirit of togetherness.
7. Cotechino con lenticchie, Italy
Cotechino con lenticchie is the yummy Italian pairing of sausage and lentils.
Italians celebrate New Year’s Eve with La Festa di San Silvestro, often commencing with a traditional cotechino con lenticchie, a sausage and lentil stew that is said to bring good luck (the lentils represent money and good fortune) and, in certain households, zampone, a stuffed pig’s trotter.
The meal ends with chiacchiere — balls of fried dough that are rolled in honey and powdered sugar — and prosecco. The dishes find their roots in Modena region, but New Year’s Eve feasts thrive across the country.
8. Pickled herring, Poland and Scandinavia
Because herring is in abundance in Poland and parts of Scandinavia and because of their silver coloring, many in those nations eat pickled herring at the stroke of midnight to bring a year of prosperity and bounty. Some eat pickled herring in cream sauce while others have it with onions.
One special Polish New Year’s Eve preparation of pickled herring, called Sledzie Marynowane, is made by soaking whole salt herrings in water for 24 hours and then layering them in a jar with onions, allspice, sugar and white vinegar.
Scandinavians will often include herring in a larger midnight smorgasbord with smoked and pickled fish, pate and meatballs.
9. Cakes that embellish and enrich the New Year feast
The tradition of a New Year’s cake is one that spans countless cultures. The Greeks have the Vasilopita, the French the gateau or galette des rois. Mexicans have the Rosca de Reyes and Bulgarians enjoy the banitsa.
10. Kransekage, Denmark and Norway
One special cake is the traditional Norwegian marzipan ring cake.
Kransekage, literally meaning wreath cake, is a cake tower composed of many concentric rings of cake layered atop one another, and they are made for New Year’s Eve and other special occasions in Denmark and Norway.
The cake is made using marzipan, often with a bottle of wine or Aquavit in the center and can be decorated with ornaments, flags and crackers.
Most of the cakes are consumed at midnight on New Year’s Eve — though some cultures cut their cake on Christmas or the Epiphany, January 6 — and include a hidden gold coin or figure, which symbolizes a prosperous year for whomever finds it in their slice.
Food is not rational
Food, it is said, is not rational. Food is culture, habit, craving and identity. Imagine, how would festivities without diversity of food, ever bind people and cultures together!
New Year resolutions enjoy the notoriety of being observed in breach than in practice, but the ones concerning food are scrupulously respected particularly those who reveal the indulgent side.
Happy New year and happy hours at the endless binges!
scribo ad LX 