When you live in Lancaster County and have a German ancestry, Pork and Sauerkraut are the words and often the food of the day.
We rarely eat pork and sauerkraut but often celebrate New Years Day by going to a local restaurant to have it for lunch. At least I do, Cerwin doesn’t think of sauerkraut as one of his favorite foods.
My pork, sauerkraut, and mashed potatoes. If you read the reasons for eating pork and sauerkraut on New Year’s Day, there are many, like: because pigs root forward, we eat pork to move forward into the year; it brings good luck, sauerkraut and pork are healthy; or the one I like best – in Germany it was about the time sauerkraut would have been properly fermented following the fall harvest.
For us, it is a memory of our mothers almost always making it on New Year’s Day.
Cerwin’s ham loaf, mashed potatoes, and stewed tomatoes. He also sampled some of my pork and sauerkraut. A sampling is enough for him. 🙂
The landscape and sky as we traveled home from Gus’s just after noon today.
Our family homestead.
Our home is just over the hill.
Praying that you will have a happy and blessed 2025.
And a happy new year to you as well!
Thank you. 🙂 Praying that you can treasure and enjoy the next period of time when you are making many changes. If we lived closer, I would help you move.
It’s going to be a daunting chore! Thank you for your “offer” of help — I’d love to have you visit once I get resettled!
You know what’s funny? I was raised in a German household in Brazil (we spoke German at home and had German neighbors), and I never heard of “pork and sauerkraut” until I moved to Lancaster! 🙂
Inge
Was cabbage grown in Brazil? Or made into sauerkraut?
Oh, yes – we grew it in our garden. And I remember my grandmother’s sauerkraut (especially as it was fermenting!) It was just a dish to serve as a side – no connection with pork or the new year.
Inge
Interesting.