For New Year's Day, people from Pennsylvania have a distinct dining tradition.

Pork and sauer kraut are served at tables all across the Keystone state on the first day of every year, because there is a superstition that says that it brings good luck for the year.

It happens in parts of New York, Ohio, and West Virginia as well.

This is much to the chagrin of most kids, because sauer kraut is really an acquired taste. I never like it until I was an adult, and most people I know are the same way. My mom told me her mom used to make her eat at least one strand of the pickled cabbage, just to make sure that she could reap the benefits of it for the year to come.

As it turns out, the sauer kraut may not be the lucky part of the dish.

While I've been eating this since I was a kid, and I cook it most New Year's Days, I really had no idea why.

I called my mom to see what the origin of it was, but she didn't know either.

I found this little tidbit online. According to the article, the Pennsylvania Dutch started this tradition. Since pigs root forward to find their food, and the New Year is all about forward momentum, pork is the dish du jour. Cows stand still when they eat, and chickens scratch backwards, so it doesn't make any sense to eat them on the first day of the year.

Another article I found talks about the dense flavor of the kraut and the abundant flavor of the pork symbolizing riches and prosperity of the year to come. The recurrent theme of kids not liking this dish at all is in this article, too. It also features a pretty good looking recipe for Good Luck Pork and Sauer Kraut, so click away.

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