6 Lucky Foods (and Recipes!) to Ring in the New Year
We could all use a little luck. Across cultures and traditions, there are countless foods that are said to bring you good fortune—and luckily they’re often pretty delicious, too. This New Year, add a few ingredients and Lodge recipes to your celebration to ring in prosperity, health, wealth, and good-flavored good fortune.
Lucky Food 1: Greens
Greens are a favorite and fabled addition to New Year’s tables across the South. Given their resemblance to cash, greens are said to bring wealth and prosperity to all who enjoy them. Bring on the greens with our Slow-braised Collards, or make a meal of your lucky greens with a hearty, meaty Southern Greens Soup.
Lucky Food 2: Fish
Fish swim in one direction: forward, into the future. We love the metaphor and all the ways that fish can brighten up a holiday meal. Our Skillet Salmon With Creamy Greens brings you the good fortune of fish, plus the prosperity of greens. Win win.
Lucky Food 3: Noodles
Long noodles, long life. That’s the wisdom behind the many Asian cultures that encourage celebrating the new year with a piping hot bowl of noodles. We especially love the idea of doubling down on our luck with noodles and pork, another lucky food said to bring prosperity, like in our Drunken Rice Noodles or Pork and Peanut Ramen.
Lucky Food 4: Black Eyed Peas
Another Southern Tradition, black eyed peas are said to bring you prosperity in the new year, and often sit side by side on the New Year’s table with collards. We add sausage to our peas in this festive one-skillet dish, and top it all off with tender cornbread to really ring in the new year right. “Good luck” is even in the name.
Lucky Food 5: Cornbread
How lucky that one of our very favorite foods also turns out to bring good health and wealth in the new year. From cornsticks to corn muffins, we can’t get enough. But for a holiday as big as this, we like to stick with our classic, beloved, original cornbread recipe.
Lucky Food 6: Round Cakes
Round and ring-shaped cakes are considered good luck in many cultures, on and beyond the New Year’s holiday. From a boozy rum cake, to a traditional pound cake, to a spiced carrot cake with a full serving of veggies, these cakes bake up a big warm welcome for the year ahead.
