Luckiest meals for New Year? South Bay families weigh in

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- New Year's is an opportunity to start fresh, and many hope to start their year off with a little luck, with the help of some tasty traditions.

In Latin American countries, it's lucky to eat 12 grapes at midnight.

In the South, black-eyed peas and collard greens symbolize luck and wealth in the New Year.

Pomegranates are associated with life and fertility in Middle Eastern culture.

And in the South Bay, ABC7 News reporter, Kate Larsen, discovered a few more New Year's traditions.

"We eat fondue," explained Angelika Altuntas. She and her family are visiting the Bay Area from Germany, where they usually spend time with friends for the cheesy European New Year's tradition. "That's the special food to all come together, sitting at the table."

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"This is prime rib in a bag. There's a cooking bag, so it cooks from inside. It's the best meat you've ever had!" says San Jose resident Conrad Zanotto.

He says the prime rib is a best selling New Year's tradition at his family's San Jose market.

But he says growing up, as one of 13 siblings, it was good luck to have anything on the table.

"We weren't sure what we were gonna eat, because we didn't know if we could afford to eat. So it was basic Italian food - risotto, polenta, chicken cacciatore," said Zanotto.

Over at the San Jose Children's Discovery Museum, kids did their best New Year's snacking, at the "Noon Year's Eve" celebration, where there was a countdown and disco ball drop, followed by confetti.

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Along with wrangling their kids, the parents were planning what food to fill their bellies with, as they usher in the New Year.

"We have a lot of food in our house," said Tian Lee, who lives in San Mateo, and says her family's New Year's meal is dictated by Chinese tradition. "Dumplings are a great thing, and also in our culture eating noodles is symbolic of having a long and prosperous life."

"The most common sweet which we cook, is the rice pudding," said Ash Bradhan, whose wife Divya Arora explained, "I think it's like a good start to the New Year - make something sweet in the house."

Whatever you choose for your last or first meal of the year - may your 2020 be delicious!