Mary Ann
Happy New Year! It is that time of year when you reflect on the past year and make resolutions for the coming year. In my family, we started the year off with a dinner of Sauerkraut and Pork for good luck, and I have had this dish for my entire life every January 1st. This is pure Pennsylvania Dutch, and no matter where I lived the aroma of the kraut and pork fill the air to greet the new year.
The sauerkraut represented money, so you had to eat some to have a prosperous year. I must say it was hard to swallow when I was little, but now I’ve grown accustomed to the sour taste and like it. The pork is prepared because the pig only walks forward, never backwards. I recently read that it is also because the pig roots forward where other animals dig backwards. Good Jeopardy question with the rooting. In the new year, you want to be moving forward, not stuck in the past year. We always served mashed potatoes and applesauce with the meal.
When I lived in South Carolina, the natives could not imagine eating sauerkraut and pork. They always made black-eyed peas and greens cooked in ham hocks on New Years. Both were new foods to me when I first move there. The black-eyed peas were pennies, and the greens represented cash. It was for a prosperous year as well.
One year, my Southern neighbor and I did a combo meal doing both the Pennsylvania way and Southern way together. All tasted good, and it was fun eating a North/South meal. We had double luck that year.
No matter where you live, there are always special foods and traditions that are unique to an area or a family. Regardless of how you celebrate, it all kicks off the New Year with hope, good luck, and prosperity. You can’t go wrong!
Silver Sage Sisters 