Which Italian New Year's Eve tradition involves eating lentils for prosperity?

Eating lentils is an Italian New Year’s Eve tradition associated with prosperity.

Lentils are linked symbolically with coins because their small, round shape resembles money. Eating them around midnight or on New Year’s Day is therefore thought to encourage financial fortune in the year ahead. A famous Italian pairing is lentils with cotechino, a cooked pork sausage traditionally associated with richness and abundance.

The custom varies among Italian households and regions, and not every family follows exactly the same menu or timing. Cotechino and lentils are especially associated with northern Italian cuisine, including Modena, where cotechino has a strong culinary tradition. The dish is a New Year food custom rather than a universal religious requirement. The lentils should not be confused with grapes, which are central to a separate New Year’s Eve tradition in Spain and several Latin American countries.