In Italy, eating lentils at New Year's Eve is associated with prosperity because their shape resembles coins.
Italian New Year's meals often include lentils, especially alongside cotechino, a cooked pork sausage, or zampone, a stuffed pig's trotter. The lentils symbolize money and financial abundance because their small, round, flattened shape resembles coins. Eating them at the turn of the year expresses a wish for prosperity.
The food tradition is especially associated with northern and central Italian cuisine, though it is enjoyed well beyond those regions. Cotechino di Modena and zampone Modena are protected Italian food products with long culinary histories. The meal is substantial because New Year's celebrations traditionally emphasize abundance and good fortune.
The lentils are not a countdown food with a fixed number of spoonfuls. Their symbolic meaning is also distinct from Spain's twelve grapes, where each grape corresponds to a month. Regional menus differ, but lentils remain one of Italy's most recognizable New Year symbols.