Here in Hungary, we have some very deep-ingrained traditions regardng what we eat and what we don't on New Year's Day, such as
-we don't eat chicken or any other kind of poultry as they are said to throw your fortune aside with their talons;
-on the other hand, we eat pork, as pigs are said to unearth treasure for you in the new year;
-we don't eat fish, because it is said to swim away with your money;
-we do eat a lot of lentil, as they are said to represent coins you'll earn in the new year.

Now I'm pretty sure these are all made up (mostly based on whatever was available to the simple folk during the winter), but they are so built into our culture that these practices are held up in a rather superstitious way, even nowadays, and by far not only in rural areas (I live in the capitol and still see them everywhere).

This makes me curious: do other counties, other cultures also have some kind of particular "menu" for New Year's Day, and/or "taboos" like ours, even if not as widely recognized as these?
Fellow GOGers, please share your knowledge about your cuisine!

Germany: Cheese fondue.

For some holidays (at least once a year) my Swedish-legacy family (my grandmother is from Minnesota and speaks some Swedish) makes what we call "Crip Cocker", although I'm sure there's another way to spell that's not so Americanized. It's basically potato and onion rolled into baseballs and boiled. Freakin' goooooood with enough butter and salt.

Pork and kraut, in places settled by Central Europeans, for the same reason Dristvaan gave, "the pig roots forward".

Hoppin' John (black-eyed peas, rice, and smoked pork), collards, and cornbread, pretty much anywhere African-Americans are.

New Year's cookies (Springerle) in New York.

I don't think there are any New Year food traditions in Finland. Well, unless you count the fact that many Finns were probably drunk when the year changed, and today they were all ordering hangover pizza from their local Turks. Myself included :P

HAH. In switzerland, new year's eve is the only day in the year where one can HOPE to eat something ELSE than cheese fondue.

Basque country: Nothing, really. Most people just skip lunch due to a)hangover or b) still being asleep.

Sweden:
We drink a lot of alcohol because we have a reason to drink alcohol.

And then we eat pizza the day after because we have horrible hangovers.

You poor devils.

True, that's why most people I know have switched over to fondue chinoise (especially in the last 20 years or so). Even those that still eat cheese fondue have started to put a pot of fondue chinoise on the table.

Yup. Actually fondue bourguignone for me (like the "chinese" but with little thick pieces of meat instead of thin slices), but that's my own end-of-year tradition. Hadn't mentionned it, because it's a tradition more associated to the 30th than to the 31st : it's my unsual birthday party meal. Yum.

It's actually the only culinary "tradition" I follow - except for the king pie thing at epiphany (6th january).

Ah yes of course, fondue bourguignonne, totally forgot about that! haven't had it in a while...i'm sort of eating semi vegan these days, very un-Swiss and very un-traditional i guess especially here in Central CH. but it's ok, no one can see me eating my millet porridge and steamed veggies in front of my computer anyway!

If I remember right my parents used to eat Corned Beef, Cabbage and Black Eyed Peas. I think the Black-Eyed Peas are supposed to bring you luck. I always hated New Year's Dinner. This year I had a wonderful ham and none of those dirt peas.
There were no taboos as far as I know.

The fermentation of grain and fruit.

Thank for your answers, everyone!
It's always interesting to read what customs are in place around the world.