Cedarville Church Meal Might Make You Lucky
POTTSTOWN PA – If you’re hoping for good luck in the New Year, members of the Cedarville United Methodist Church at 1092 Laurelwood Rd. are hoping you’ll join them Thursday (Jan. 1, 2015) for a traditional Pennsylvania German dinner of pork and sauerkraut.
The church on Laurelwood Road
The meal is a fund-raiser being conducted to support the church’s adult mission trip to Joplin MO later in the year. It will be held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the church hall, and consists of pork, hot dogs, sauerkraut, mashed potatoes, green beans almondine, apple sauce, rolls, and a variety of desserts.
Tickets are available at the door, and cost $9 for adults and $4.50 for children.
What makes pork and sauerkraut so lucky?
Serious Eats author Sara Bir explains that, on a Pennsylvania Dutch farm, pigs were considered symbols of progress. Unlike chickens and turkeys, who scratch backward across a barnyard, pigs root forward as they eat. The notion of moving ahead in the coming year appealed to the observant and frugal Pennsylvanians, Bir notes.
There’s a more practical reason too, she adds. Pigs were usually slaughtered during the cold of November for food safety, so fresh, choice cuts of pork were available. The farm’s cabbage was often harvested at around the same time, and needed to be preserved; usually by pickling, resulting in sauerkraut.
Whether by luck or hard work, the fixings for a fine meal were ready for consumption just a couple of months after harvest.
- Collard greens and black-eyed peas, pickled herring, and lentils and sausage also are considered “lucky” meals for the New Year. It all depends on what culture does the celebrating. Read the article by Sara Bir, titled “The True Story of Traditional New Year’s Lucky Foods” and published Tuesday (Dec. 30, 2014) by Serious Eats, here.
