Many countries around the world have traditional dishes for New Year's Eve or New Year's Day. These foods often have a special meaning such as good luck, good fortune or good health.
When you celebrate New Year's Eve in Spain, the custom is to eat twelve grapes at midnight - one grape for each time you hear the clock. Each grape is for a different month of the year. If a grape is sour, it means you may have problems during that month. Hopefully, every grape is sweet! You have to eat all the grapes before twelve o'clock to get all the good luck.
In parts of the USA, it is a tradition to eat some cooked green vegetables such as cabbage. The reason is simple - their green leaves look like paper money. Some people eat cooked green vegetables mixed with a little sugar or honey. Eat a lot of greens and it means a new year with lots of money.
The Japanese celebrate New Year with three days of special New Year's foods. There are many delicious dishes and each food has a different meaning. For example, rice cakes mean happiness and good luck. Black beans mean hard work and good health.
It is a custom in China to eat very long noodles on New Year's Day. The long noodles mean a long life. Be very careful not to break the noodles while you are eating them! Another tradition is to leave some food on your plate when you are finished. This means a year with plenty of food.
In many countries, it is a tradition to bake a special cake for the New Year. In Greece, there is often a coin in the cake. Whoever gets the coin will be lucky in the new year. In Mexico, they bake a cake decorated with fruit with a few surprises inside.
As well as eating lucky foods, there are also a few unlucky foods. In some countries people think lobsters are a bad idea because they swim backwards and this could mean problems in the new year. Many cultures also warn against eating birds with wings, such as chicken. It means that your good luck could fly away.