7 New Year’s Food Traditions from Around the World that you Can Celebrate with a Healthy, Plant-Based Diet

What are your hopes for the new year?  Are you eating the right food to bring good luck? 

Besides confetti and champagne, the New Year is often welcomed with celebrations involving food.  All over the world, culinary traditions include foods meant to symbolize hopes for good fortune and good health.  From leafy greens to hearty lentils, many of these foods also fit a plant-based, vegan diet. 

Here are 7 of the most well-known New Year’s Eve food traditions.  Plus, some delicious, healthy recipes to cook for your New Year’s parties. 

1) Wanting More Dollar Bills?  Eat Leafy Greens

In America, Denmark, and Germany New Year’s food traditions include dark, leafy greens.  Greens like collards, kale, and cabbage are meant to resemble the abundance of green, leafy dollar bills that will hopefully come in the new year.  It’s probably not a coincidence that these hearty vegetables are also in season during the cold winter months. 

In New Orleans, Creole recipes call for stewed collards.  Germans have a tradition of pickling cabbage for sauerkraut.  The Danish will often serve stewed kale along with salted cod.  In both the United States and Europe, cabbage and kale show up in the stews and soups of the season.

Leafy Greens Nutrition Benefits

Besides making a healthy bank account, these dark greens will also bring you a healthy body.  Whether you’re diving into a bowl of Cabbage Soup or making Stuffed Cabbage Rolls, you’ll be eating tons of fiber, vitamins, and minerals.  In addition, dark greens are loaded with antioxidants to protect you against chronic disease like cancer.  Plus, they’re nutrition super-power will help keep your immunity strong. 

Collard Wraps with Fiesta Hemp Seed Filling

Slow- Cooker Cabbage Bean Soup

Tender Braised Red Cabbage with Apples and Cider Vinegar

Kale, Spinach, Collards, Chard, and More: 14 Delicious Oil-Free Vegan Greens Recipes

2) Craving More Coins? Cook Peas, Beans and Legumes

Hoping for fortune doesn’t end with dollar bills.  In fact, food traditions also promote an abundance of coins.  Peas, beans, and lentils are cooked to bring good fortune with money.  In Italy, hearty lentil soups fill the table.  Plus, one of their signature stews, Cavolo Nero, is also called Beans and Greens soup – doubling up their hopes for both bills and coins.  In Germany, a pot of split peas will simmer on the stove.  The Japanese celebrate with simmered black soy beans.

This coin superstition also has roots in the American South.  The classic dish, Hoppin’ John, dates to the Civil War.  During the war, an attack on Vicksburg created a food scare.  Luckily, there were enough black-eyed peas on-hand to feed the soldiers.  The tradition continues to this day, as black-eyed peas are simmered and shared during the New Year.  In fact, sometimes a penny is added to the pot of peas.  Whoever finds the coin is said to have an extra dose of good fortune in the New Year.

Nutrition Benefits of Beans, Peas, and Legumes

Besides finding a little extra change in your financial health, beans, peas, and legumes are beneficial to your physical health.  First, they’re loaded with vegan protein.  Second, they have heart-healthy fiber.  Third, they have plant-based nutrition with iron and calcium.  Plus, they’re budget-friendly.  That means eating more WILL give you a little more money in the new year.  Simply swapping out the meat in your chili for lentils will add a little more change in your pocket…and a lot more fiber in your diet.

Cavolo Nero: Kale and White Bean Soup

Beluga Lentil Chili

3) Hoping for Longevity?  Eat Soba Noodles

Soba noodles are a staple of Japanese cooking, but they represent more than just a delicious dinner.  In fact, these long, hearty buckwheat noodles are slurped in hopes for a long, hearty life.  Soba noodles are traditionally used in dishes like cold Soba Noodle salad or warm Soba noodle stir-fry.  You can also add them to Ramen, a Japanese soup made by combining a flavorful umami-infused broth with garnishes of steamed vegetables, beans sprouts, and spicy chili.  However, Soba noodles can be used in most plant-based recipes, replacing pasta. 

There may be some nutrition science to the longevity superstition.  Because soba noodles are made from whole grain buckwheat, they are full of essential vitamins, minerals, and fiber.  They are a good source of plant-based protein, while also low in fat.  Soba noodles have tons of fiber, which helps lower cholesterol and promote a healthy heart.  Plus, they have manganese and thiamin, nutrients that help promote cell health and lowering blood sugar.  With all of the benefits, perhaps it’s not so far-fetched to links these noodles to wellness.  Eating more soba noodles may in fact help lengthen your life.

5-Minute Asian Soba Noodle Bowl

Spicy Shiitake Mushroom Black Chia Noodle Ramen

4) Looking for 12 Months of Good Luck? Try Eating 12 Red Grapes

In Spanish and Latin American countries, people reach for grapes at midnight.  When the clock strikes 12, tradition says that you have the 12 “gongs” of the clock in which to eat 12 grapes.  It might sound easy, but just try fitting twelve grapes in your mouth!  If you can accomplish this feat, you are sure to have 12 months of good luck.

Be careful, though.  If one of the grapes tastes sour, your luck may run into a rough patch.  That sour grape signifies a month of sour bad luck.  The particular grape matters.  If the fourth grape you eat is sour, April may be a tough month.  The last grape taste a little off?  December might hold some ill fortune.

Like most fruit, grapes are a healthy source of fiber, potassium, and other key vitamins.  Plus, grapes have resveratrol.  This antioxidant is a polyphenol linked to protecting you against cancer and heart disease.  So even if you don’t conquer the 12 grapes at midnight challenge, you can still enjoy the nutrition benefits of just a handful.

Cherries, Berries, Pineapple, Pears: 15 Easy and Creative Healthy Fruit Recipes

5) Seeking New Life and Fertility?  Partake in Pomegranates and Figs

Pomegranates and figs are exotic fruits with seductive histories.  For hundreds of years, red pomegranates have been revered in Turkey.  There, they’ve been enjoyed on New Year’s Day to bring in hopes for an extra boost to life and fertility.  Their dark crimson red color is meant to symbolize the human heart, encouraging life and fertility.  Plus, legend says that the number of arils (the seed-like things we eat) is the same as the number of stars in the sky.  It’s no wonder these beautiful fruits have a mystic aura.

Similarly, figs are consumed in parts of Europe to also encourage fertility.  The sensuous fruits have long been considered an aphrodisiac, dating back to Greek mythology.  The Greek god, Dionysus, gorged himself on figs and wine, encouraging parties and indulgence.  On New Year’s Day, recipes like fig pudding or fig custard will celebrate the sensual fruit.

If the magic behind pomegranates and figs aren’t convincing enough, perhaps their nutrition benefits will entice you.  Pomegranates have two important plant compounds that are linked to wellness.  Punicalagins, found in the juice and peel, are loaded with antioxidants.  They have been linked with lowering inflammation.  Figs are loaded with fiber, which help you feel full and regulate blood sugar.  Plus, they’re a good source of calcium, helping protect you against osteoporosis.

Rainbow Carrot Arugula Salad with Walnut Fig Balsamic Dressing

Gluten-Free Date Fig Oat Bars – Plant-Based, Vegan Recipe

6) Longing for Memories of Summer?  Fire up the Barbecue

It may seem odd to fire up the barbecue, but that’s exactly what those on the other side of the globe do.  While the Northern Hemisphere is baring down for a cold, snowy New Year’s, compatriots south of the equator are celebrating summer.  Australians fire up their “barbies” (aka “barbecues”) for holiday parties.  Locals might enjoy a fun outdoor rugby scrum before diving into grilled kabobs.  In New Zealand, Kiwi food traditions are the same, with an assortment of grilled meats, seafood, and veggies.  A New Year’s party will likely have as much smoky charcoal as bubbly champagne. 

To harken your favorite summer memories, you can embrace this barbecue tradition.  Fire up the grill (even if it’s indoor) and reminisce over your favorite sun-kissed moments with the ones you love.  Enjoy the feeling of warm gratitude for the New Year.  Share a hope that winter will be short, and the summer’s warmth will arrive soon.

Grilled Veggie Quinoa Bowl with Dill Dressing – Oil-Free, Plant-Based

Charred Zucchini and Summer Squash Quinoa

7) Needing to Find More Good Luck?  Hide a Coin, an Almond, or a King

Some global New Year’s food traditions have much less to do with WHAT you’re eating and more about WHAT YOU MAY FIND.  As mentioned before, in New Orleans a a shiny penny is added to a pot of Hoppin’ John black-eyed peas.  Whoever finds the coin is said to have found extra luck for the coming year.  In Mexico, a similar tradition is carried on.  A big batch of tamales may carry a hidden coin.  In Norway, the cook will slip an almond into creamy rice pudding. 

The ultimate hidden treasure, though, is the King Cake made during Mardi Gras.  Though it’s not technically a New Year’s tradition, the intention is similar.  Inside a sweet, baked cake, there is a little baby Jesus figurine.  Whoever finds the little king is supposed to be king for the day.  Let’s just hope no one accidentally swallows an arm!

Cardamom Sweet Rice Pudding with Mango

Hoppin’ John: Southern Black-Eyed Pea Stew with Rice

These unique New Year’s food traditions are celebrated around the world to bring in health, wealth, and happiness in the coming year.  Whether you’re braising cabbage or hiding almonds in the rice pudding, may you find good fortune for the future.  Plus, eating all of these healthy, plant-based foods are sure help boost your nutrition.  Make a pot of lentils, simmer some greens, and hide a shiny penny in that pot of peas.  You’ll enjoy some delicious flavors and some fun traditions!

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What New Year’s Food Traditions will you Celebrate?

Which of these New Year’s food traditions will you practice? Have your own favorite traditions? Leave a comment, or take a picture and tag it @chefkatiesimmons or #plantsule on Instagram.

Peace and pomegranates,

Chef Katie