Food for thought in celebrating New Year

By CATHERINE ELLERTON

Moapa Valley Progress

We’ve all been through all those New Year’s Resolutions, year in and year out, which are broken as soon as spoken: weigh less, quit smoking, exercise more, eat less/better. Yet, have we ever thought of how many New Year’s traditions center on food? Yes, FOOD! Hmmmmm….now I like that.

The other resolutions are so easy to break. But food is an essential. One cannot do without it. And that is especially true on the New Years holiday. As the Germans say: “Wer über die Jahre gut schmaust, hat das ganze Jahr vollauf” or “He who eats well through the New Year will be sated all year long.” So, this year, let’s explore some of those traditions:

Some traditional New Year’s foods are greens, black-eyed peas, cornbread, Hoppin’ Johns and Pot Likker Soup.

In China it is traditional to eat Nian Nian You Yu on New Year’s. That is a fish dish and symbolizes abundance. And….Mom and Dad….it is OK, in fact necessary, to leave some on your plate.

From Spain comes the tradition of eating a grape for each stroke of the clock at midnight as it represents a page of the calendar ahead. If the grape is sweet it will be a good month; if it is sour that month will be less-than-lucky.

To bring in a wealthy New Year try having greens which resemble dollars, peas which symbolize coins and then add some cornbread for gold. Or, you could bake some bread or a cake or cupcakes and stick a coin in one of them. The person who finds it (and does not swallow it) will have good luck for the rest of the year.

Any type of pork dish is supposed to be good for New Year’s. The reasoning for that is that pigs are fat and therefore your New Year will be rich with happiness. Also pigs root upwards which shows progress.

Now, one tradition that would be good to use here in the valley, is one that involves pomegranates. A person is supposed to smash a pomegranate on the floor and then view the seeds – which represent prosperity and good fortune. The more seeds, the more luck for the coming year.

Perhaps a chef can shed some light on these New Year’s traditions. Raegan Whited who has been head chef at the Overton Sr. Center for ten years now. She said that her family, who lives in Maine, sends her a New England lobster every year. That has become her traditional New Year’s Day meal.

Sometimes she will also make lemon cake with raspberry frosting or add a fortune cookie on her served meals.

Raegan’s resolution for this New Year is to get more organized as she has found that having a baby makes things a bit more hectic.

Then it was on to Sugar’s where I spoke with Chef Robert Perkins. Perkins has been with the restaurant for 18 years. He said that his family always cooks black beans for the New Year. But he doesn’t actually prepare anything traditional, but sometimes just a bit special, at the popular restaurant.

At the Inside Scoop I found Tish Cook who said at home on New Year’s Day they usually have homemade chicken and noodles followed by homemade ice cream and crème brûlée. Then they go out target shooting and eat sandwiches.

Rosa Kundev, co-owner and cook at LaFonda’s Restaurant, stated that in Mexico a traditional New Year’s meal is Menudo. She continued that they possibly will be serving tamales and champurrado (which is a warm, sweet, non-alcoholic drink) at the restaurant this year.

Wendy Dunbar, the baker at Lin’s for the past 17 years, laughingly stated that because of busy schedules, breakfast food is the most popular tradition at their home. She stated that pies and cookies were very popular. Then we discussed the tradition of eating a circular food on New Years for good luck as we stood in front of the store’s donut counter.

As far as those circular items go, the famous Martha Stewart advises that some of these foods might include Oysters with Serrano Chile, avocado and cherry tomatoes; a caramelized onion tart with olives; or a baked artichoke dip with winter crudites.

Taking a moment to prepare an empty suitcase for my run around the outside of my house at midnight which will guarantee a New Year filled with good travels, I then rush out to purchase some gooey donuts, wishing all a New Year filled with Love, Happiness and New Adventures.