“Good Luck” Menu

Did you have the traditional meal of pork and sauerkraut on New Year’s Day?  My German heritage has ensured this menu combination is served up every January 1^st, with a steaming bowl of mashed potatoes to round out the day’s fare.  We dine our way toward a year of good luck, or so the superstition goes.

Growing up, I never appreciated this yearly ritual.  The aroma of cooking sauerkraut overwhelmed the mouthwatering smells that poured out of the oven where a pork roast was turning golden brown.  I wrinkled my nose as we prayed thanks for the meal and God’s blessings, but silently wished the sauerkraut would simply disappear.  I hoped my parents wouldn’t notice how small a portion of the pungent, yellow mound of cabbage strings I scooped onto my plate.  I quickly smothered the smell with mashed potatoes and camouflaged the sour taste with morsels of tender pork.  Faced with the choice of bad luck for an entire year or swallowing a mouthful of sauerkraut, I opted for the latter.

As I grew older, my tolerance for the taste of sauerkraut improved.  The fermented cabbage found its way into my family meal planning more frequently than the first day of the year.  I was pleasantly surprised when my daughter Emilie began acquiring a taste for the Silver Floss-potato-pork combo (or whichever brand of canned kraut was in my cupboard).  Perhaps the hope of good luck throughout the year was all the incentive she needed to cultivate her appetite for sauerkraut.  Or, perhaps it was her German heritage shining through.

Imagine my surprise when, as I was doing research for an agricultural education display on the pork and sauerkraut tradition, I discovered its origins were actually half a world away from the land of my ancestors.  Warrior Genghis Kahn found this pickled cabbage staple when he invaded China and stole the idea and large quantities of the wine-fermented diet supplement from the Chinese laborers who were building the Great Wall.  As his armies plundered their way through Europe, they carried with them this Chinese discovery and helped spread its unusual flavor and unexpected favor among conquered nations.  The Germans quickly dubbed it sauerkraut or “sour cabbage.”

I was intrigued by another tale that ocean navigators, like Captain James Cook,  counted on sauerkraut to keep his ship’s sailors free from scurvy on their long voyages around the world.  Linking sauerkraut to the absence of scurvy was fortuitous for those early explorers, preserving their health while expanding their horizons.

What good luck to have discovered this Chinese health food!  Partnered with pork, sauerkraut’s legendary reputation spread across the Atlantic as immigrants brought their favorite recipes as they sailed to the new world.  The “luck” in the green cabbage that the settlers raised, shredded, fermented and stored for meals throughout the year represented the “green” money of good fortune they hoped to find.  The “luck” in the pork on their plates was tied to the fact that pigs “root” forward as they eat, bringing better days in the coming year.

As we start off the New Year, we still enjoy the ingenuity of Chinese laborers who, more than 2,000 years ago, preserved a favorite food and added some zest to their daily rice ration.  Whether or not it is on your list of favorite foods, may the “good luck” of pork and sauerkraut be with you throughout 2008.

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