Here we are, staring down the barrel of a new year, a suspended moment that can feel both hopeful and intimidating. Luckily, our forefathers have left us traditions of “lucky food” to bolster our fortune for the coming year and to give us something to chew on besides our fingernails as we contemplate the uncertain future. And so, a rundown of some essentials for this weekend’s grocery list:

Sauerkraut: I thought everyone ate pork and sauerkraut on New Year’s Day, but when I Googled it to find the backstory, the first thing to pop up was an article called, “Why do Ohioans eat pork and sauerkraut on New Year’s Day?” So maybe it was just us, all along. Even so, Tuesday’s feast wouldn’t be complete without a healthy dose of the German cabbage staple. Roots of this tradition are vague, at best, though I think I was told as a child that cabbage is green and represents wealth. I also have a sneaking suspicion that all those Cleveland Germans were probably just tossing together what they had left in the pantry after Christmas. By far the most creative answer, though, was one I found on Yahoo Answers that posited that people eat pork because a pig roots forward with its nose similar to the way we forge into the new year. Even if it’s not true, I like the idea, so I’m going to get some soy sausage to complement my kraut.

Black-eyed peas: While I was munching sauerkraut in Ohio, Jason spent the New Year’s Days of his childhood eating black-eyed peas with stewed tomatoes. This is typically considered “a Southern thing,” and there’s a Civil War story that goes along with it, in which the modest pea was the only thing left in the fields after Sherman’s notorious march to the sea, and the Confederate soldiers felt lucky to have them that winter. True? Well, maybe. There’s an older Talmudic tradition of eating black-eyed peas on Rosh Hashana (Jewish New Year) in order to appear humble before God. This might, however, be due to a translation error involving the Hebrew word for fenugreek, so maybe you want to pick up some of that, too, just to cover all your bases.

Grapes: While the kraut and peas are usually prepared on the first day of the year, don’t forget the grapes for New Year’s Eve. Spaniards eat twelve grapes at midnight to symbolize luck and bounty for the coming twelve months. To do this properly, you’re supposed to eat one at each stroke of the clock, which sounds challengingly rapid to me. So have your grapes at the ready and, for heaven’s sake, exercise caution: to have your first action of 2013 be gagging on a grape sounds like a rough start. Biting into the first grape before midnight, however, can bring bad luck, so if you try to get a cheater’s head start on your New Year’s grapes, well…don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Happy New Year, everyone, best of luck, and, as always, bon appetit.