These countries serve traditional vegan food for New Year’s Eve celebrations.
Last updated: December 4, 2024
Vegan New Year Celebration
No matter where you live or travel in the world, one thing remains the same: traditional food is one of the integral parts of every celebration. Whether it’s a local festival or a multinational celebration, you can always expect the abundance of delicious food, generously served to family members and guests.
Complying with this unspoken, universally accepted rule, New Year’s Eve celebration presumably takes the heaviest toll on pantries around the world. While some nations habitually set different kinds of meat and fish dishes at the centers of their tables, many others regale their merrymakers with numerous traditional vegan delicacies.
If you gravitate toward the second category, think about spending New Year’s Eve in these 8 countries and feast on their traditional vegan delicacies.
WHERE TO HAVE VEGAN FOOD FOR NEW YEAR CELEBRATION
1. Iran
Do you have a sweet tooth? If so, then Iran is the country where you want to celebrate Nowruz or simply the Iranian New Year. Skip the main dishes and go straight to faloodeh, a traditional sorbet-like dessert. Made from vermicelli rice noodles, rose water, lime juice, and cherry syrup, this vegan treat tastes like nothing you have tried before.
2. Turkey
Being a little bit superstitious, Turks are known for their love for pomegranates, which symbolize fertility and abundance. When in Turkey for New Year’s Eve, do as locals do and eat lots of this fruit. And don’t forget to smash it on the front door in order to attract good fortune for the upcoming year.
3. Germany
According to pragmatic Germans, the more greens you eat on New Year’s Eve, the more wealth and prosperity you invite in the new year. So they don’t shy away from generously decorating their holiday tables with sauerkraut, collards, and other greens. Needless to say, any vegan can benefit from this New Year’s Eve tradition.
4. Spain
Spanish are famous for their fruitarian rather than vegan New Year’s Eve traditions. Exactly at midnight on New Year’s Eve, the citizens of Spain eat 12 grapes, each of which represents one month of the year. Sweet grapes symbolize good, prosperous months. Sour grapes are associated with less successful months.
5. Italy
Like many other nations, Italians prefer to add meaning to their everyday food and bring it to the New Year’s Eve tables. The biggest food lovers in Europe believe that eating lentils, which look like small gold coins, invites prosperity and abundance to their houses in the new year.
6. India
Despite cultural and religious differences, Indians and Italians eat alike or at least when it comes to eating coin-like shaped lentils at the New Year’s Eve dinner in the attempt to attract good fortune and luck.
7. Japan
It may be quite a challenge to find a vegan dish in Japan where fish and other seafood try to sneak into every place. This problem, however, erases itself during the New Year’s Eve celebration when most Japanese eat traditional toshikoshi soba, the long buckwheat noodles that are believed to be responsible for strength and long life. (We may have just uncovered the secret of Japanese longevity.)
8. China
Chinese New Year’s Eve celebration differs from the rest of the world. Starting on the 16th of February, the Chinese New Year continues for a few weeks and involves an ample amount of traditional food.
If you are a vegan who travels to China during this time, make sure to try their famous tang yuan, sweet rice dumplings with the filling made from sesame seed paste or sweet bean paste with sugar, fruits and nuts. It tastes amazing!
Wow! Such an enlightening and exceptional post, Zhanna. It’s so interesting to see the food people eat all over the world on New Year.
Author
Agreed. To see different customs and traditions is worth traveling even during the holidays.
Everything looks delicious!
Federica
Author
Hehe Federica! True 🙂
Such a fantastic post! Great tips too!
Happy new years!
Xx Caroline
Author
Thank you, Caroline! Happy New Year!
YUM! This all looks so good! I definitely want to try faloodeh, that sounds absolutely delicious. People underestimate how many incredible vegan options there are around the world. I would love to experience New Years at ALL of these locations! And eat the food too of course!
Author
I completely agree. Only when you travel, you can see that eating different food and different type of food, for that sake, enormously enriches your experiences.
All the food looks so delicious.
Happy New Year..
xx
Author
Thank you! Happy New Year!
Ohh this is very interesting, I can’t believe there are so many yummy vegan dishes being celebrated around the New Year. I like the sorbet from Iran and the rice dumpling from China. Very nice post! Happy New Year dear!!!
Author
I am glad you liked the post. Happy New Year to you, too, Mercy!
All these photos are amazing. Love this!
Happy New Year!
Much love, Len
Xo
Author
Thank you! Happy New Year, Len!
Wow, this such an interesting post! Everything looks so amazing! Thanks for sharing!
Author
My pleasure. 🙂