With strict coronavirus rules in place across Italy this New Year’s Eve, we won’t be going to many parties. But luckily, an Italian NYE party is easy enough to recreate at home. You need only three key ingredients: Prosecco, cheesy disco music, and steaming heaps of lentils. As dishes of lentils are handed out to partygoers just before the countdown, any new arrival to Italy would be forgiven for wondering what’s going on.
Lentils, or lenticchie, are believed to bring good luck in Italy, and eating them at New Year - shortly after midnight - is a tradition that’s said to date back to ancient Rome. To wish friends luck and prosperity in the New Year, ancient Romans would give a pouch full of lentils as a gift. The coin-shaped legumes, which increase in size when cooked, were believed to represent abundance.
