12 Unlucky Foods To Avoid On New Year’s

If you don’t want your luck to fly away in the new year, it’s best to avoid any animal that has wings and scratches in the dirt, like turkey or chicken. These birds scratch backward, which can imply dwelling in the past or—even worse—the need to scrape by for your living.If you’re really craving wings, try our Buffalo tempeh “wings” or our Buffalo cauliflower instead. (Bonus: They can help you kick off Veganuary too!) More of a meat eater? Pork is considered lucky (because pigs root forward), so go “ham” with it!

If you don’t want to experience major setbacks next year, you’re going to want to avoid eating crab, lobster, and other crustaceans this New Year’s. That’s because these creatures move backward or side to side instead of forward.

Don’t worry, though, you can still get your seafood fix—just swap in for any fish that swims forward, like salmon or tuna.

Though it’s nearly impossible to avoid, slicing into bread and finding a massive air pocket is said to be an omen for death, particularly on New Year’s. The one exception is if the bread is round (signifying a circle of good luck), but we’re not going to chance it.

We can’t think of a better sign to resolve to go low-carb in the New Year, can you?

Seafood like shrimp, cod, scallops, halibut, and bass are what are considered bottom-feeders, because they scavenge for food along the bottom of the ocean. If you don’t want to be living off scraps in any part of your life in the upcoming year, you should avoid them.

Don’t worry though, if you’ve got a hankering for seafood, you’ve got a couple options. You could replace it with mushrooms, like in our vegan “scallops” with succotash or our mushroom “calamari”, or just go for an alternative, forward-swimming fish like salmon.

Passing a knife to someone on New Year’s is as good as saying that you want to cut ties with them going forward. It’s also bad kitchen etiquette, so do like chefs do and put that knife down if you need to hand it off to someone. Then they can pick it up on their own without any danger, either of injuring themselves or losing you as a friend.

Some believe that starting the New Year off with your refrigerator and kitchen cabinets empty is bad luck and will bring scarcity into your life. Avoid this by stocking up with all your favorites. Bonus: All the Christmas treats will be on sale!

Check out our list of stores that are open on New Year’s if you need to do a last-minute run too.

Or take out the trash, or wash your clothes, or sweep your house… as the superstition goes, if you do, you might accidentally wash good luck and loved ones out of your life. Other beliefs state that whatever you do on New Year’s is what you’ll be doing the rest of the year.

We don’t know about you, but we’ll take any excuse to not to the dishes, and we’re definitely not trying to bring more hard work in for next year either. Save the cleaning for later and relax this New Year’s instead.

In Chinese tradition, white is an unlucky color because it symbolizes death, so all white foods are out for the celebration. Tofu, eggs, rice, cauliflower, white cheeses—say goodbye to them for the night. Instead, fill your New Year’s table with other colorful foods. Greens of all kinds are said to bring wealth into your life, while anything yellow (think cornbread or lemon curd) is supposed to foretell prosperity and happiness. Oranges are supposed to bring good luck and fortune as well, so load up on citrus too.

They say if you leave some food on your plate at the end of the night, the coming year will be one of plenty. So skip the clean plate club and do future you a favor in more ways than one by packing away some leftovers at the end of the meal.

Not having a big New Year’s Eve dinner? No worries, we think saving some Champagne for the next day counts too—turning it into mimosas or Champagne cupcakes will be just as lucky.

We don’t know why you would, but if you’re ever tempted to gift someone fresh herbs, leave the parsley at home. Bring it to a party, and not only will you get weird looks, bad luck will follow.

Want to bring something else to a NYE party? Try one of our edible food bouquets or one of our ultimate gifts for hosts/hostesses instead.

Thank your lucky stars if your chopsticks fall to the side when you’re eating, say, ramen or sushi this New Year’s; setting chopsticks upright in your dish mimics the incense used to honor the dead in China and Japan and is, understandably, bad luck.

In addition, long noodles signify long life, so be mindful when you’re slurping. If you’re worried about it, may we recommend penne or macaroni instead?

As it turns out, bananas are just riddled with bad luck. Not only does cutting them bring bad luck, bringing them on board a boat can mean a poor fishing haul or even getting lost at sea for the crew.

Sorry banana pudding and banana bread, we’ll see you next year.