Lentils are commonly served in Italy on New Year’s Eve to symbolize prosperity.
The tradition often pairs lentils with cotechino, a slowly cooked pork sausage, or with the similar zampone. Lentils are associated with coins because of their small, round shape, so eating them at the new year expresses a wish for financial abundance in the months ahead. Pork is likewise connected with abundance in several European food traditions.
The dish is especially linked with northern and central Italian regional cooking, although New Year’s menus vary across the country. Cotechino is a cooked sausage made from pork, while zampone is a seasoned pork mixture traditionally stuffed into a pig’s trotter-shaped casing. Both are commonly accompanied by lentils.
The lentils are not a countdown object like Spain’s grapes. They are part of a meal served around the holiday. Recipes differ in seasoning and preparation, but the symbolic association with wealth is the stable feature. The custom also resembles other New Year food traditions that use round foods to suggest coins or completeness.