Lentils are the traditional Italian New Year’s Eve food associated with prosperity. Their small, round shape resembles coins, so eating them at the turn of the year symbolizes hopes for financial abundance in the coming months.
In Italy, lentils are often served with cotechino, a seasoned pork sausage, or with zampone, a stuffed pig’s trotter. The meal is especially associated with the night of San Silvestro, December 31, and the first hours of the new year. Pork can symbolize progress or future wealth because pigs root forward rather than backward.
Lentils are not eaten only for their symbolic meaning: they are also a common, nutritious legume in Italian cooking. Regional menus vary, so the exact accompanying dish may differ. The custom resembles New Year food traditions elsewhere, such as black-eyed peas in the southern United States, but lentils are the specific prosperity food strongly associated with Italian celebrations.