9 Foods That Will Turn Your Luck Around

In many Asian countries, long noodles are eaten on New Year's Day in order to bring a long life. One catch: You can't break the noodle before it is all in your mouth.

Recipes:

Soba Noodles with Shrimp, Snow Peas, and Carrots

Sesame Noodles

Lo Mein with Stir-Fry Vegetables

Due to pigs' dining habits, many countries, including Austria, Cuba, and Spain, view pork as a good-luck food. As pigs root for food, they keep their feet planted and push their snouts forward, signifying progress and future properity.

Recipes:

Garlic Roast Pork

Maple Sugar-Ginger Roast Pork

Golden Sausages and Shallots in White Wine

Thought to resemble coins, lentils are eaten throughout Italy for good fortune in the new year. Plus, the legumes plump (with water) as they cook, symbolizing growing wealth.

Recipes:

Red Lentil and Vegetable Soup

Lentil Stew with Butternut Squash

Lentil Tabbouleh

In North America, Asia, and Europe, people eat fish to celebrate the new year. In some countries, people associate fish with moving forward into the new year since fish swim forward. Other people think fish symbolize abundance since they swim in schools.

Recipes:

Ginger-Miso Glazed Salmon

Baked Snapper with Peppers and Mushrooms

Smoked Salmon Spread and Bagels

It's no coincidence that this good-luck food is the color of money. Greens, such as kale, collards, and cabbage, are traditionally eaten on New Year's Day because of their association with wealth and economic prosperity.

Recipes:

Kale "Chips"

Apple Cider Braised Greens

Cabbage with Ginger and Cumin

A common good luck food in the southern United States, black-eyed peas are thought to bring prosperity, their shape and abundance representing coins. Hoppin' John is the classic Southern New Year's dish.

Recipes:

Confetti Black-Eyed Pea Salad

Hoppin' John

Black-Eyed-Pea Soup with Greens and Ham

Pomegranate juice is packed with antioxidants and antiaging properties, making it a nutritious addition to your daily diet. What more can you ask for in a drinkable meal?

Recipe: Pomegranate-Berry Smoothie

Upside-down cake came to fame courtesy of canned pineapple — and a 1925 Dole Pineapple recipe contest with Good Housekeeping on the judging panel. Of the 60,000 submissions, some 2,500 were for upside-down cake, and the dessert's ease was part of its popularity. That piece-of-cake preparation — place fruit in the bottom of a skillet, pour in batter, bake — is the same here, but with navel oranges subbing for the pineapple.

Recipe: Orange Upside-Down Cake

Eating round or ring-shaped cakes, pastries, and breads is a popular New Year's tradition in various countries. In Greece, families bake vassilopita, a cake containing a hidden good-luck coin. Italians eat sweet panetonne, Mexicans enjoy the ring-shaped rosca de reyes cake, and the Dutch indulge in puffed, doughnut-like ollie bollen.

Recipes:

Holiday Bread

Sufganiyot

Apple-Walnut Bundt Cake