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Eggplant and BorekThe Turkish New Year is one of the most food-filled festivities, with a massive dinner including borek (a baked or fried pastry), baklava, dolma (a stuffed vegetable dish), and assorted eggplant dishes.
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SushiWe could take a lesson from the Japanese, who recognize that there is never a bad time to eat sushi. Osechi-ryori, traditional cold Japanese New Year's foods, include special bento-like boxes called jubako filled with things like boiled seaweed, fish cakes, mashed sweet potato with chestnut, burdock root, sweetened black soybeans, and some sushi and sashimi to top things off.
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Grapes and LentilsBrazil's traditional New Year's foods are a bit less appetizing -- just grapes and lentils, which are said to signify wealth. Fortunately, most revelers eat a big celebratory meal on the evening of the 31st as well. Popular dishes include chicken,
marajucá mousse, and
farofa (tapioca grains) with spices.
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Black-Eyed PeasCubans ring in the New Year with a hearty helping of black-eyed peas with rice and collard greens. The dish is supposed to bring fortune and luck. We have to wonder how a tradition from the American South somehow found its way over to Cuba (or is it the other way around?)
