Italian New Year’s Eve Food: How to summon good fortune

Italy and Italians are famous for their passion for life. This country is central to the fashion industry, produces high-quality, high-end sports cars, and is where you’ll find some of the most romantic locations in the world. With that level of passion, it’s not surprising that Italian’s New Year’s Eve food is seen as a way of bringing good fortune to yourself and those you love.

 Once you’ve sampled some of these traditional dishes you’ll understand why. You might be interested in: Italy’s food culture: Explore the traditions and flavors of Italy, it’s a great way to find out more about this amazing culture. The holiday season is fast approaching, so you need to start deciding on your Italian New Year’s food now! The following examples of traditional Italian New Year’s Eve food should help.

 

What do Italians eat at midnight on New Year's Eve

Italians don’t traditionally welcome in the new year with a drink in hand. Instead, they prefer to enjoy something to eat. The preferred New Year Italian food is rich and high in fat as it symbolizes abundance, something that most people want for the coming year.

Risotto

Risotto contains rice which Italians see as a sign of wealth. To showcase wealth and invite wealth in for the coming year, many Italians will eat Italian risotto as their Italian New Year’s Eve food. The great thing about risotto is that you can choose the flavours yourself.

Cotechino

Cotechino is a pork sausage. It’s fatty and therefore considered by Italians to be a good New Year Italian food choice. The fattiness and richness of the sausage symbolise wealth. It’s also a very good finger food, making it easy to eat at midnight. Of course, a traditional Italian New Year’s celebration would revolve around a meal. 

Pandoro

It’s hard to beat Pandoro as a traditional Italian New Year’s Eve food choice. It’s a sweet cake dusted in icing sugar and a delight at almost any time. Italians will consume this toward the end of their New Year’s meal. It’s a great way to cleanse the palette ready to start on classic Italian Christmas cocktails. 

Lentils

Lentils are also considered a sign of prosperity. That’s why many Italian New Year’s food menus feature them. In many cases, they are served with cotechino sausage, emphasizing wealth and prosperity. It may not be everyone’s dream but it’s certainly a common theme in Italy at New Year's.

Tortellini

As far as Italian New Year’s traditions go, this food is perfect. Tortellini is a type of pasta and, crucially, it's shaped like little hats. Eating it is seen as saying “hat’s off” to the old year and welcoming in the new one.

This pasta can be filled with almost any sauce you can imagine, served plain, or served with a sauce of your choice. It’s a versatile dish that is perfect for the end-of-year celebrations.

Sfincione

You can’t celebrate anything in Italy without mentioning pizza in one form or another. Sfincione is a rectangular pizza with a thick crust. It’s made simply with onions and caciocavallo cheese, reminding people of the poverty Italians faced in the past and how they overcame it. The fact that it’s delicious is a bonus.

 

Summing Up

Choosing the right Italian New Year’s food is difficult, there are several great options to choose from. However, as eating at midnight is a tradition, you may find the best solution is to prepare all the dishes and let your guests decide which is the best.

 

You can then do the same thing with the cocktails…