The New Year’s holiday is a time of closure and new beginnings. Resolutions are a common rite of New Year’s Eve, with people making goals for the coming year and raising a glass to the old one. A dinner of foods representing good fortune then completes the tradition in many cultures.

Around the world, foods are eaten on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day that are auspicious and thought to bring prosperity for the coming year. The ingredients are often chosen for their resemblance to money: coin-shaped legumes and winter greens that look like bills, to name a couple.

In Europe and Asia, fatty, rich pork is considered a lucky food because a pig roots for food in a forward direction, charging into the future and obviously getting plenty to eat.

The pork in Italy’s famous cotechino con lenticchie represents abundance, while the lentils’ roundness and green colour bring to mind money.

In Italy, a traditional dish is cotechino con lenticchie – juicy pork sausages paired with lentils. The cotechino sausage is fatty and represents abundance, while the lentils’ roundness and green colour bring to mind money.

In Asia, long noodles are slurped to guarantee long life, the caveat being that the noodle cannot break before being swallowed. In some cultures, people bake treasures or money into desserts and treats.

In England, a sixpence is steamed in the Christmas pudding; whoever gets the portion containing the coin will have a prosperous year.

In Mexico, a traditional King Cake is baked with a small doll in the batter; the lucky diner who gets the doll in their piece of cake gets to be king for a day.

Many cultures celebrate the New Year by eating ring-shaped food such as bagels or doughnuts. The shape is thought to bring good luck by representing the year coming full circle.

In Spain and Portugal revellers eat 12 grapes at midnight on New Year’s Eve and the grapes must be consumed before the last stroke of the midnight bell.

Each grape represents a month of the year, so if the fourth grape is extra-sweet, for example, this could mean April will be a terrific month.

US traditions for ringing in new year are varied.

Many cultures celebrate the New Year by eating ring-shaped foods

In the US, the melting pot of cultures adds many choices to New Year’s celebrations. Often decadent or expensive victuals such as caviar and Champagne are consumed, with the pricey roe of the sturgeon thought to bring prosperity.

Throughout the South, Hoppin’ John is served on New Year’s tables. Black-eyed peas with rice are thought to bring luck because the peas are round like coins and the rice grains swell – like your wallet, not your waistline – when cooked.

Often served with a mess of greens meant to emulate dollar bills, this is good old-fashioned down-home fare.

The menu is rounded out by a salad of spicy greens, like dollar bills, with pomegranate seeds for abundance, satsumas for luck and grapefruit for flavour. The dressing is made with fig vinegar, whose plentiful seeds must surely mean prosperity.

A traditional US recipe: Hoppin’ John

Serves 6

Ingredients
2 tbsps olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
3 ribs celery, chopped
2 medium red bell peppers, diced
1 jalapeño pepper, minced (or more or less to taste)
3 cloves garlic, minced
300g fresh black-eyed peas or steamed black-eyed peas or 2 (500g) cans black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed
1 meaty ham hock or ham bone
1 bay leaf
1 can diced tomatoes with green chillies, undrained
2 tsps Cajun or Creole seasoning
1 tsp fresh thyme
½ tsp cumin
½ tsp salt
½ cup water, or as needed

For serving:
2 cups hot, cooked long grain rice
4 green onions, green and white parts, thinly sliced

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium high heat. Add the onion, celery, bell peppers and jalapeño and sauté until the vegetables are soft, about five minutes.

Add the garlic and stir until fragrant.

Add the rest of the ingredients and enough water to make the mixture soupy.

Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low; cover and simmer for one hour, stirring occasionally, until the flavours are combined. Check liquid level periodically and add more water if the peas are getting too dry.

Remove the ham hock and cut off the meat.

Dice the meat and add it back to the pot.