MATTHEW BURNETTE, Staff Writer

The New Year’s dinner table boasts possibly the most eclectic variety of foods that are served during a holiday dinner.

Fresh greens, cabbage, black-eyed peas, hog jowl, long noodles, cornbread, and round cakes for dessert are all traditional items found included in the spread on the first day of the year.

Each item carries its own significance and helps to get the new year started off on the right foot.

The Mercantile Café in Manchester offers a traditional meal on New Year’s Day from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Its owner, Renee Holt, gave a rundown of what each item brings to the New Year’s table and the rest of the year to come.

“Greens and cabbage symbolize folding money,” says Holt. “You’re lucky if you eat them because that means you’re going to have money next year.”

Holt serves both sauerkraut and a macaroni and cheese with long noodles because both symbolize longevity in the coming year.

“If you eat that on New Year’s Day, you’re going to live a long time,” she explained.

The Mercantile Café also has cornbread on the menu because of its golden color and ring cakes for dessert because the rings symbolize life coming full circle. Another item that carries some significance is black-eyed peas.

“Black-eyed peas symbolize good things to come,” says Holt. “Dried beans loosely resemble coins, and they greatly expand in volume, so they symbolize expanding wealth.”

One item that isn’t as commonly eaten throughout the year, but a staple of New Year’s is hog jowl. Holt says she offers a couple of free pieces with their meat and two or meat and three plates but also serves another pork dish with potatoes and sauerkraut for those who may not care for the jowl.

Hogs and pigs are symbols of prosperity and gluttony, but it’s their digging pattern that makes them an important addition to New Year’s dinner, according to Holt.

“You do not ever want to eat chicken on New Year’s Day because it’s not lucky because chickens scratch backwards, and you’re not going backwards, you’re going forward,” she says. “Pigs root forward so you always eat pork on New Year’s because you’re going forward instead of behind. So, no chicken because it’s bad luck if you eat chicken on New Year’s Day.”

“You eat poor on New Year’s, so you can eat fat for the rest of the year,” added Holt. “All that stuff is going to make you rich and prosperous and healthy and have a long life.”