In Italy, what lentil-based food is traditionally eaten on New Year's Eve for prosperity?

In Italy, cotechino con lenticchie is traditionally eaten on New Year's Eve for prosperity.

Cotechino con lenticchie combines cotechino, a slowly cooked pork sausage, with lentils. The dish is associated with New Year's Eve and New Year's Day because lentils resemble small coins. Eating them symbolizes hopes for financial abundance in the year ahead, while pork has traditionally represented plenty and progress because a pig can root forward rather than move backward.

Cotechino is a fresh sausage from northern Italy, especially associated with Modena. It contains pork meat, fat, and rind, seasoned with spices, and is generally simmered before serving. Lentils are commonly cooked separately and served alongside it.

The dish is sometimes confused with zampone, another Italian New Year specialty. Zampone is a seasoned pork mixture stuffed into a pig's trotter, whereas cotechino is presented as a sausage. Regional menus vary, so not every Italian household serves both components in exactly the same way.