I don't know how this varies by area..or if other places even have a traditional "first" New Year's meal for good luck.

In my family, we have always had boiled cabbage, black-eyed peas, and cornbread.

What is your tradition?

we generally eat a roast dinner in the same way we would on a sunday.

I'm back on track however so tomorrow I have a compromise - duck salad

Growing up we had food traditions, but since getting married 9 years ago, DH and I haven't started any "food" traditions per se...unless just plain overeating counts! I am hungry for turkey and feta stuffed bell peppers tonight, so that's what we having.

P.S. My Dh grew up in AL so his dream meal includes the things you mentioned, Mary! Throw in some steamed chicken and okra and he's in heaven.

Our new years day consisted of a non-stop food frenzy all day LOL, so this year I'm having it, and I have lots of cut up fresh veggies & dips, lots of beautiful fresh fruit put out, and our traditional ham & scalloped potatoes for visitors, but I'll have a piece of the ham and some mashed turnip instead, sigh...becauase I know the amount of butter & cream that go into those scalloped potatoes LOL

I have a chocolate caramel cheesecake for the people who want it, and a nice homemade pineapple sherbet for folks taking it lighter.

*droool* I'm coming to your house tomorrow LOL.

My fam always does oyster stew. Yuck yuck yuck.. I hate that stuff.... BUT we always do a big batch of creamy potato soup too and that is heavenly!

Exact same as yours Mary, black eyed peas, cabbage and cornbread. You're supposed to eat one pea for every day of good luck in the following year.

We always have saurkraut and pork...my husband in of German descent...it's suppose to give you good luck eating it on New Years Day.

I had no idea that there were certain traditional foods eaten on New Years.

But this much I can tell you, Trazey's chocolate caramel cheesecake is one tradition I could surely get into. Wow, does that sound good.

You learn something new everyday. I didn't know it was a common tradition and when I asked DH about it he said that he grew up with it as well.

We normally have Hoppin' John (black-eyed peas, corn bread, collard greens). We've had it for as long as I can remember but this year we're skipping it... I hoping for an invite to Trazey's (the pineapple sherbet sounds great to me).

Now I'm hungry for cabbage, collard greens, and cornbread...blah!

We don't have a tradition though.

My mom always served peel & eat shrimp. I think she & I were the only two who liked them, so I don't know if you can call it a traditional NY Eve food, but I certainly did look forward to NY Eve for more peel & eat shrimp!

Dad was a southerner and mom was a Yankee, so we always had both traditions:

collards and black eyed peas (Southern) - collards to represent wealth in the New Year; they're green like money. Black eyed peas to represent luck in the New Year.

From mom's side, we had pork and sauerkraut.

Mind you, this was one big meal -pretty gassy, huh?? We always had to eat at least one bite of each good luck food even if we didn't like it.

Beverlyjoy--Mmm, I'm comong to your house! I'm German and Italian, but I never knew that was a 'good luck' meal. Maybe I'll start a new tradition next year!

This year we are having pasta.

When my dad was alive, we always used to have roast pork w/ potatoes, etc.