Fish

Fish is a very logical choice for the New Year's table. According to Mark Kurlansky, author of Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World, cod has been a popular feast food since the Middle Ages. He compares it to turkey on Thanksgiving. The reason? Long before refrigeration and modern transportation, cod could be preserved and transported allowing it to reach the Mediterranean and even as far as North Africa and the Caribbean. Kurlansky also believes the Catholic Church's policy against red meat consumption on religious holidays helped make cod, as well as other fish, commonplace at feasts. The Danish eat boiled cod, while in Italy, baccalà, or dried salt cod, is enjoyed from Christmas through New Year's. Herring, another frequently preserved fish, is consumed at midnight in Poland and Germany—Germans also enjoy carp and have been known to place a few fish scales in their wallets for good luck. The Swedish New Year feast is usually a smorgasbord with a variety of fish dishes such as seafood salad. In Japan, herring roe is consumed for fertility, shrimp for long life, and dried sardines for a good harvest (sardines were once used to fertilize rice fields).

鱼，是新年餐桌上理性选择。根据《鳕鱼：一种改变世界的鱼的自传》作者马克·克兰斯基的说法，鳕鱼自中世纪起就是一种广受欢迎的节日食品。他认为鳕鱼相当于感恩节吃的火鸡。什么原因呢？在现代制冷技术和运输手段发明以前，鳕鱼能够长时间不坏，并运送到地中海、甚至是南非、加勒比地区。克兰斯基同时还相信天主教堂反对在宗教节日期间吃红肉的条例帮助了鳕鱼和其他鱼类在节庆中的发展。丹麦人吃煮的鳕鱼；在意大利，人们在圣诞节和新年吃盐渍的干鳕鱼；波兰人和德国人在新年晚上吃另一种常见的鱼类，鲱鱼；德国人同时还喜欢螃蟹，并且相信在口袋里装一些鱼鳞会带来好运。