In Italian New Year's Eve tradition, lentils symbolize coins and prosperity.
Italian families commonly serve lentils around midnight or with cotechino, a traditional pork sausage, on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day. Their small, round, coin-like appearance is associated with money, while their tendency to swell during cooking represents hopes for growing wealth in the coming year.
The custom is especially linked with cotechino e lenticchie, a dish associated with northern Italian cuisine and widely eaten across Italy during the holiday season. Pork is also connected with abundance because it is rich and substantial.
The tradition is symbolic rather than a promise of financial luck, and recipes vary by region and family. Lentils are not uniquely Italian New Year's food: similar prosperity associations appear in other cultures, but Italy's lentil-and-cotechino pairing is one of its best-known seasonal customs.