Top 15 Foods for Good Luck on New Year's Day

According to Vietnamese beliefs, the color red symbolizes happiness, and the vibrant red of spring represents luck and goodness. The natural red hue of sticky rice made from gấc fruit brings harmony and prosperity for the new year. Therefore, red sticky rice is the first food to eat for good luck on New Year's Day after paying respects to ancestors.

Additionally, eating red sticky rice, made from this 'fruit from paradise,' offers numerous health benefits:

• Stabilizes the nervous system: Gấc is rich in selenium, minerals, and vitamins, beneficial for stabilizing the nervous system and combating signs of depression.
• Reduces cholesterol: Fights arterial plaque, preventing strokes.
• Enhances sexual health: Particularly effective in building protein molecules that nourish the body, promoting the production of sperm and eggs.
• Improves vision: Gấc contains precursor vitamin A, which transforms into vitamin A, aiding eyesight, reducing visual impairment, and preventing aging.
• Beautifies the skin: A top food for smooth, fair skin.

Watermelon is an essential fruit in the ancestral altar during Tet. Worshipping this fruit brings a lot of luck and prosperity to the family because of its round and full appearance. In addition, with its red color, the 'sand grains' inside the watermelon are homonymous with the word 'sand' in Chinese, symbolizing the solidity of the beginning of the year. Besides, this is also a food to bring luck on the first day of the new year because it is refreshing and promises sweetness.

Watermelon is considered a healthy food, low in fat, and very low in calories, making it an ideal food for weight loss. We can see that this type of fruit is rich in essential nutrients such as vitamins A, B1, B6, and C, pantothenic acid, biotin, potassium, and magnesium. In the red watermelon, there are powerful antioxidants like lycopene, which neutralize free radicals and prevent general inflammatory diseases and chronic diseases such as heart disease, stroke, and cancer.

The next dish to eat for luck on the first day of the new year is the boiled chicken dish. According to nutritionists, besides albumin and fat, chicken meat also provides us with many vitamins such as A, B1, B2, C, E, acids, calcium, phosphorus, and iron. This is a high-quality food, easily absorbed and digested by the human body.

According to traditional medicine, chicken meat has sweet, non-toxic, nutritious properties, and is lung-friendly. This type of meat also treats blood stasis, convulsions, carbuncles, and is a food that nourishes the spleen, nourishes blood and kidneys. It is believed that eating golden, tender, and shiny boiled chicken will bring a favorable and prosperous start.

Vietnam's Lunar New Year cannot be without Banh Chung and Banh Tet. It is a beautiful traditional custom of our people, expressing the gratitude of descendants to their ancestors. This is the main dish on the Tet dinner table.

The round Banh Tet symbolizes the sky, and the square Banh Chung symbolizes the earth. The green leaves outside and the filling inside symbolize the grace of birth, the love of parents for their children. These two cakes were offered to please the Hung Kings, and Lang Lieu succeeded the throne. Banh Chung and Banh Tet both symbolize balance in life, conveying beliefs in luck for everyone on the first day of the new year. Therefore, this is the dish we should eat to bring luck for the whole year.

Papaya is a tropical fruit with a refreshing, sweet taste and an attractive color. Its benefits for health have long been proven, making it a favored fruit by many. Just like its name, papaya symbolizes prosperity and abundance. Therefore, it is an indispensable fruit on the Tet fruit tray. Surprisingly, eating papaya is also believed to bring luck on the first day of the new year. Many families choose papaya as an appetizer to wish for abundance and warmth throughout the year.

Papaya not only has a delicious taste but is also rich in both vitamin A and C. Both of these vitamins help boost the immune system against illnesses such as colds, fever, and flu. Additionally, consuming papaya is excellent for the skin, eyes, and hair...

6. Fish Dish

Alongside the delicious and auspicious bitter melon soup, fish is also a must-eat dish to bring luck on the first day of the new year. In Chinese, the pronunciation of fish is similar to the word 'surplus,' implying abundance and prosperity. Therefore, consuming fish will bring luck and abundance for the entire year. Some beliefs even suggest that the fish should be served whole on Tet to ensure a 'smooth start and finish' for the new year.

In Vietnam and many countries worldwide, fish is an indispensable dish on the first day of the year. Besides being a dish for luck, no one can deny the nutritional value it provides. Not only delicious, fish is rich in protein, healthy fats, beneficial for health, and an excellent ingredient for various Tet feasts.

7. Bitter Melon Soup

On the first day of the new year, what soup would you eat to cool your stomach and bring lots of luck? Bitter Melon Soup is the must-eat dish for luck on the first day of the new year. In Vietnamese wordplay, bitter melon implies overcoming all bitterness and hardships to welcome a happy, peaceful, and smooth new year.

This type of fruit is not rare; any housewife can buy and cook it throughout the year. But when Tet comes, it takes on a different meaning. Having a bowl of Bitter Melon Soup on the natural feast feels strange, as if all hardships and troubles have passed, and the new year will be different and better.

Not only is it a lucky dish, but bitter melon soup is also refreshing and nutritious. The bitterness in bitter melon is a natural remedy for detoxification, treating rashes, and effective against acne. Although it is a traditional dish, bitter melon soup never goes out of style on the Tet feast.

8. Long Noodles

Long, resilient noodles symbolize a healthy and increasingly long life in the coming year. When consumed, the Chinese often add a chicken egg to the longevity noodles because the round shape of the egg symbolizes abundance. Long noodles, also known as longevity noodles in some places, are among the dishes to eat for good luck on the first day of the new year, especially in China, Japan, and many other Asian countries.

This long noodle dish signifies longevity, often reserved for the elderly in the family to wish them a hundred years of life and blessings alongside their descendants. During the cooking process, the noodles must remain unbroken, and the longer the noodles, the better, to fully capture the meaning.

In many cultures, a round shape is considered a symbol of luck because it represents completeness and abundance. Eating round-shaped fruits on the first day of the year has become a tradition in some countries. In Vietnam, it's the same, so choose round-shaped fruits to eat for luck on the first day of the new year.

Cultural experts also explain that round-shaped fruits resemble coins, and their sweetness signals a year of financial prosperity and sweet joy.

Red melon seeds symbolize luck and joy for everyone. Dishes with a red hue are always favored during the New Year, and red melon seeds are no exception. This type of seed seems to always be present in the candy tray to welcome guests during Tet.

Red melon seeds are not only a delightful treat but also rich in valuable nutrients, enhancing memory and supporting brain function. The red color of melon seeds in spring symbolizes prosperity, expressing the desire for the goddess of luck to knock on the homeowner's door.

Sweet pastries are a popular snack for many families during Tet. Typically, children love sweets, but they are often forbidden by parents who believe that consuming sweets only leads to tooth decay and obesity, with no real benefits. This is a somewhat narrow and mistaken view; if used correctly, sweet pastries can bring many advantages to you and your family.

Sweet pastries provide our bodies with a significant energy source, helping reduce stress and addressing issues related to heart health and blood pressure. However, beyond the mentioned nutritional values, not everyone knows that sweet pastries also carry a symbolic meaning of good luck on the first day of the new year. This delightful snack contributes to sweetness in the early days of the new year, ensuring a smooth and favorable year ahead.

Braised duck eggs in coconut water is a distinctive dish during Tet for people in the Southern region. The land of the South is blessed with coconut trees growing everywhere, yielding abundant and swaying fruits. Therefore, this dish of duck eggs benefits from coconut water, providing a sweet and enticing flavor.

Each piece of meat is cut into neat squares, accompanied by duck eggs boiled to perfection, forming a message of square and round, warmth, and prosperity in life. To successfully create this delicious dish, let's take a look at the instructions below.

Amidst the Tet feast, with so many choices, one may tend to neglect green vegetables. This is a habit that needs to change because green vegetables are rich in vitamins and essential fiber. It is believed that consuming these vegetables makes you not only wealthy but also naturally healthy.

Additionally, incorporating various abundant green vegetables (including broccoli, corn, and cabbage varieties like the Lang Son turnip in Vietnam) helps balance the nutritional content of meals. There is also a belief that eating these vegetables will bring prosperity due to their green color resembling currency notes. People believe that consuming these vegetables not only brings wealth but also ensures good health.

Spring Rolls (Nem) hold significant importance in traditional cuisine during the Tet holiday. Consuming spring rolls symbolizes welcoming the arrival of spring. The cylindrical shape of the rolls resembles gold bars, representing wealth and prosperity. This dish is extremely popular in every Vietnamese family during the Tet festival.

After extended festive feasts during Tet, people turn to nuts like sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, and peanuts to restore digestive balance. Among these, cashew nuts stand out as a delicious treat with a sweet and nutty flavor. Their gentle aroma easily pleases the palate from adults to children. Notably, cashew nuts are highly nutritious and contain various beneficial compounds for the body. Cashews have incredible health benefits such as maintaining heart and nervous system health, supporting joint health, promoting dental health, preventing and treating diabetes, addressing anemia, combating aging, neutralizing free radicals, and reducing the risk of cancer.