Superstitious Meals and Practices?
I was surprised when I moved to Pennsylvania Dutch Country that EVERYONE ate pork and sauerkraut on New Year's Day for good luck during the coming year. There are tons of superstitions, too. The first person to enter your home on the 1st must be a dark haired male and he has to leave by a different door. Wish I could remember some of the others. I find them all fascinating. Breakfast on Shrove Tuesday is donuts. Fashnacht - the night before fasting on Ash Wednesday when you clear the house of fat for lent. Have any of your own or your region?
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16 Comments:
Lentil soup on New Year's Eve or Day. It promotes prosperity in the coming year because the lentils are coin-shaped. My mother wouldn't let us out of the house on NYD without it.
chiff0nade at 11:40AM on 11/25/07
For me, it's Black eyed peas on new years day to bring luck in the new year. Every year my grandmother asks if I ate my peas.
Alm25 at 11:54AM on 11/25/07
I never knew about the Pork and Sauerkraut NYD thing in the PA Dutch area. I'm not too far from there, so it seems like a good tradition that I will adopt.
jonfoxx at 12:35PM on 11/25/07
Hoppin John is traditional in the South...
Black eye peas, hog jowl (or back fat, ham hocks, smoked pork neck, etc.), collards and corn bread. Any greens will work, but collards are traditional. I've also seen it done with crowder peas or field peas, but all the southerners I know insist that black eye peas are the "right" way of doing it.
Some areas include rice with the peas, but I think that tends to be limited to the rice-growing regions around the gulf. I learned to eat it without rice.
LoCo at 1:05PM on 11/25/07
Ooops. Meant to say that hoppin john was traditional for New Years.
LoCo at 1:17PM on 11/25/07
Well, it always rains when my mom makes potato salad ... which she hasn't made in years because of this!
LunaPierCook at 1:51PM on 11/25/07
LunaPierCook - send your mom to Florida with a sack of spuds! We need the rain bad :-)
I have no idea why, but my dad always made us biscuits and sausage gravy on the morning of big tests. SAT, GRE, or just finals -- we got the biscuit and gravy treatment. We definitely weren't hungry during the test!
Dominic
the zen kitchen
dvchurch at 2:14PM on 11/25/07
linguini al pesto upon departing for and arriving from family trips.
tudogostoso at 4:47PM on 11/25/07
Fast/no meat on Fridays during Lent.
I have to chop off the ends of a banana before eating it.
When I'm at the grocery store, I never pick the first of anything off of the shelf. It has to be the second or third.
Although my mom is from Pennsylvania, I've never had sauerkraut before but I eat a Funnel Cake every September at the County Fair.
I like even years rather than odd years so there's no need for me to cook a good-luck meal on New Year's Day.
paris221966 at 7:00PM on 11/25/07
Always pork and kraut on New Years Day...
Always spilled salt over the shoulder...
Must bring fresh bread to anyone that moves into a new home...
No meat on Fridays during Lent...
Never cut the root end of an onion first...
Never peel a cucumber without cutting off the ends first...
ChelleyD01 at 8:21PM on 11/25/07
Always toss the salt over a shoulder if it spills.
My Dad always eats herring (or whatever it's called) on New Years.
Always have the same main dishes for Thanksgiving...Turkey, Saurkraut, Oyster Stuffing, Cranberry Sauce, Rolls, Mashed Potatoes, and Pumpkin Pie with Whip.
StudentStomach at 10:07PM on 11/25/07
Herring on New Years is a must, but I have no idea why. Of course, I love it all year, so it is no big deal.
churchka at 10:52PM on 11/25/07
Pickled herring is a must in my family on New Year's day! I've rarely met others who shared that custom. My husband's family is from the South, so black-eyed peas a necessity. That makes for some odd combinations on the dinner table!
Library Lady at 12:14PM on 11/26/07
The husband's late Grandfather REFUSED to sit at the dinner table if there were 13 people at it, especially if he was the 13th person. He was also big on throwing salt over the shoulder, something I adopted even though I am not superstitious. Guess it is my way of honoring his memory.
No one has mentioned corned beef and cabbage on St. Patrick's Day. I've never done it but I know alot of restaurants around here serve it as a special.
AuntJone at 12:33PM on 11/26/07
Black-eyed peas and cabbage and ham for new years.
malenky at 2:26PM on 11/26/07
No meat on Fridays during Lent is a Catholic tradition. What about 7 fishes on Christmas Eve? Where did that come from? I grew up in a Catholic family and we had fish on Christmas Eve, but never 7 - probably couldn't afford so many.
Corned beef and cabbage and green beer and beverages were mandatory for St. Patrick's Day. Mom even made green mashed potatoes. She used food coloring, but I've seen some lately made with added peas that looked delicious.
I lived in NJ and NY, but the pork and sauerkraut were new to me in PA. I can't remember if we ate anything of importance on New Year's Day. The PA Dutch are extremely superstitious and since they love food, it figures that they'd combine the two.
PerkyMac at 11:29AM on 11/27/07