Why do Italians eat lentil to ring in a lucky new year?

2020 2021 extra virgin olive oil legume lentil luck present wish WOOP Evo Bar

2020 has gone for good and even if it has not been the luckiest year ever for the majority, we will never forget it.

As 2021 is approaching every of us would benefit from a bit of luckiness from it, but how can we ring in a lucky new year?

 

Every culture will do that on their own way according to their heritage and in particular, the Italian culture won’t miss the opportunity to shape their tradition around food neither this time! Indeed, to recreate a proper Italian NYE party at home we need only three key ingredients: Prosecco, 80s disco music, and steaming heaps of lentils.

Lentils, or lenticchie, are believed to bring good luck in Italy, and eating them at New Year- shortly after midnight - is a tradition that’s said to date back to ancient Rome. 

There, to wish friends luck and prosperity in the New Year, ancient Romans would give a pouch full of lentils as a gift. The coin-shaped legumes, which increase in size when cooked, were believed to represent ​​abundance.

 

Particularly in northern Italy, lenticchie con cotechino is the traditional dish served after midnight. Cotechino is a type of slow-cooked, spiced pork sausage. When you add a drizzle of high intensity extra virgin olive oil It become the perfect hearty and warming dish for a cold winter’s night. Eventually, according to the Italians’, the more lentils we eat, the luckier we’ll be in the coming year.

We truly wish so!

Find the Cotechino with lentils recipe here:

https://woopevo.com/blogs/recipes/cotechino-with-lentils

Find the best extra virgin olive oil pairing for the recipe here:

https://woopevo.com/products/olivastra-di-seggiano-dop?variant=31817307488328

Abbraccio evo


Older Post Newer Post


Leave a comment

Please note, comments must be approved before they are published