Lucky New Year's foods also healthy

NEW YORK, Jan. 1 (UPI) -- Many cultures worldwide eat special foods for luck on New Year's Day that, while they may not provide prosperity, do offer good health.

The Web site epicurious.com says people in many countries eat legumes including beans, peas, black-eyed peas and lentils that are also symbolic of money. Lentils resemble coins that swell when cooked so they are consumed with financial rewards in mind.

In Brazil, the first meal of the New Year is usually lentil soup and in Japan, a group of symbolic dishes eaten during the first three days of the New Year includes sweet black beans.

Cooked greens, including cabbage, collards, kale, and Swiss chard are consumed at New Year's in many different countries for one reason -- their green color and leaves look like folded money.

In Spain, Portugal, Venezuela, Cuba, Mexico, Ecuador and Peru, people eat 12 grapes at midnight -- one grape for each stroke of the clock and each month of the year. This custom dates back to 1909, when grape growers in Spain initiated the practice to take care of a grape surplus, the Web site said.

People in Cuba, Spain, Portugal, Hungary, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Italy and the United States eat roast pork because it's a symbol of prosperity and abundance. Many in these same countries refuse to eat any poultry on New Year's Day so "their good luck will not fly away."