Food Traditions for the New Year

By Clem Nilan, General Manager

I am humbled to know that despite my best planning only some things in the New Year will turn out the way I anticipate. Lots of things will just happen of their own accord, and I expect this is true for all of us. While I wouldn't call my family superstitious, we do have a few traditions based on the premise that it doesn't do any harm to give a nod to Lady Luck on New Year's Day.

I can’t remember when we adopted the practice, but for many years my wife Kathy and I have prepared Hoppin' John on New Year’s Day. This simple hearty dish of black-eyed peas (or field peas) and rice is traditionally cooked on New Year's Day in the Low Country South in the hope it will bring in a prosperous year filled with luck. It is widely thought to have been introduced to America by African slaves who worked the rice plantations. Our Food Education Coordinator Caroline tells me it’s her family’s New Year food too and it’s so good they prepare it all year long. Caroline teaches how to prepare this dish in our cooking classes and it’s a class favorite.

Another of my family traditions is to eat red grapes on New Year's Day. Red grapes were always on the table on New Year's at Josephine’s house (my wife's mom) and Kathy continues this tradition. Josephine's family came over from Naples, Italy, and apparently this tradition dates back to the Old World.

Josephine always prepared cooked greens as well, which are also considered a lucky New Year's food. As an Irish lad marrying into an Italian family, I was introduced to dishes I never experienced growing up, such as escarole and broccoli rapini (aka broccoli rabe). These greens are common in the cuisine of Josephine’s southern Italy.

I remember my first time tasting broccoli rapini. It's not a kid-friendly food as it sets the gold standard for the most bitter. I remember teasing my wife that it was a masochistic family tradition. But over the course of time broccoli rabe has won me over and it's become a part of my cooking repertoire. I use Josephine's technique of steaming (covered) the sliced (chiffonade) broccoli rabe with a little olive oil, water, garlic and red chili flakes. And now I actually crave the bitterness and periodically broccoli rabe sings its siren song to me.

Preparing our traditional foods and breaking bread together is a life-affirming way to celebrate the birth of the New Year. In a sense it's creating our own “luck” to help make our dreams and resolutions come true. I wish all of you a happy, healthy and lucky 2013!