Cook a Traditional Southern New Year's Day Dinner

Many cultures and countries have particular "lucky" foods, and the southern United States is no exception. Greens, pork, and cornbread, as well as black-eyed peas, cowpeas, or beans, are some of the typical symbolic foods served on New Year's Day. When planning your dinner menu, add the Southern foods that some say bring good luck and avoid those that may do just the opposite in the new year.

What to Eat on New Year's Day

According to popular folklore, if these foods are eaten on New Year's Day, you're guaranteed good luck throughout the year:

• Peas and beans symbolize coins or wealth. Choose traditional black-eyed peas, lentils, or red beans to make a dish seasoned with pork, ham, or sausage.
• Greens resemble money, specifically folding money. Make dishes using green, leafy vegetables to ensure good fortune for the coming year. Southern favorites include boiled cabbage or sauerkraut, collard greens, kale, chard, mustard greens, and turnip greens.
• Pork is considered a sign of prosperity in some cultures because pigs root forward. This is probably the reason many southern New Year's Day dishes contain pork or ham.
• Cornbread might symbolize gold because corn kernels represent coins. Cornbread is also essential with black-eyed peas and greens, so you can triple your luck with these dishes that naturally complement one another.

What Not to Eat on New Year's Day

As much as you might want to go all out with a seafood dinner on this holiday, it may not be the best idea. Some believe that lobster could cause bad luck because they can swim backwards, which could mean setbacks in the year ahead. For the same reason, eating chicken could be bad luck. The birds scratch backward, plus they're winged so your luck could fly away. 

New Year's Day Menu Suggestions

This is the perfect New Year's Day dinner menu. It includes skillet cornbread, easily seasoned mustard greens, spicy black-eyed peas (Hoppin' John), hot cooked rice, and a stunning caramel cake.

• Spicy Southern Black-Eyed Peas: Salt pork and ham flavor this tasty dish of black-eyed peas, also known as hoppin' John. 

• Slow Cooker Black-Eyed Peas and Collard Greens: This slow cooker dish combines the peas and greens with bacon and a tasty broth mixture perfect for serving up with cornbread.
• Crock Pot Red Beans and Rice With Andouille Sausage: While black-eyed peas are traditional in some parts of the South, red beans and rice is a classic Louisiana dish that brings good luck with a different kind of bean. The rounds of andouille sausage can also represent coins.
• Mustard Greens With Ham: Ham seasons slightly spicy mustard greens perfectly. Serve them with your favorite hot sauce or homemade pepper vinegar.
• Southern Turnip Greens With Ham Shanks: Ham shanks or diced ham season turnip greens to create a tasty dish that will start the year off right. Turnip greens can be hard to find outside the South, but you can substitute mustard greens, collards, or kale.

• Boiled Cabbage With Bacon: This quick and simple cabbage dish is a flavorful alternative to southern greens.
• Pulled Pork: Serve tender shredded pulled pork along with your New Year's Day dinner. There are many recipes to choose from and various ways to cook it, from slow cooker to smoker.

• Classic Southern Buttermilk Cornbread: This golden cornbread is a great choice to serve with peas or beans and greens. There's also a tasty cornbread with corn kernels that's perfect for the occasion.
• Southern Caramel Cake: This southern favorite, made from layers of yellow cake and a buttermilk-inflected caramel frosting, will finish the meal nicely.