♪ (ambient arcade intro) ♪
- (FBE) Today, you're going to be trying
four good luck foods from around the world.
We'll see if you can guess which country considers them lucky
and why they're considered lucky.
- I'm down, okay! (laughs)
- How exciting!
That is so much fun, I'm really excited.
♪ (upbeat music) ♪
- (FBE) So here is your first good luck food.
What are you looking at?
- A donut! (laughs)
I haven't had these in a million years!
- I mean donuts are good luck, I think.
But I didn't know this was a good luck food specific to a place.
- (FBE) What do you think the meaning of a donut could be?
- It tasting good?
- Maybe there's like significance around the shape of a donut?
Mmm, this is a good donut.
- (FBE) What part of the world do you think considers
ring-shaped foods lucky?
- New York?
Because I've been to New York before, and if you go downtown
or like anywhere, there's always a donut shop.
- I'm gonna take a lucky guess, Australia?
- (FBE) Ring-shaped foods are considered lucky
in Central Europe, specifically Poland.
- Ah!
They know what's going on. Donuts are good.
- (FBE) The circle shape of the donut is what's considered lucky about it.
It represents the circle of life
and signifies the year coming full circle.
- That's so cool, I've never even thought of that before.
- What?
Okay, 'cause it makes sense, 'cause every New Year's also,
along with the whole jumping off the stairs thing,
every single year, my family makes us wear polka dots
for good luck for the new year.
I've never questioned it, I was just like okay,
we just have to wear polka dots on New Year's. (laughs)
♪ (upbeat music) ♪
- Oh, grapes!
Oh, that's nice, grapes are my favorite fruit.
- (FBE) What part of the world
do you think considers grapes a good luck food?
- Ooh, grapes? Where do grapes come from? (laughs)
Aren't there grapes everywhere?
South America, I don't know. (laughs)
- Some part of me is trying to say like maybe Napa?
Only because they grow grapes.
But I'm trying to think outside of the box.
Asia.
- (FBE) Three different countries actually consider grapes lucky,
Spain, Portugal, and Mexico.
- (gasps) That's cool!
- (FBE) So there are actually 12 grapes in the bowl we've given you.
What do you think is significant about that?
- 12 grapes. 12 months.
So one for each month.
- (FBE) In Spain, Mexico, and Portugal,
it's tradition on New Year's Eve to eat a grape at midnight
every time the clock tolls.
One grape to signify each month of the coming new year.
- That's amazing, I would choke and die,
but that's amazing, that's an amazing ritual.
- (FBE) We're actually gonna have you give this tradition a try.
It's New Year's Eve,
and the clock has just struck midnight.
Every time the clock chimes, you'll eat one grape.
- Okay.
- (FBE) Ready to give it a shot?
- Yes.
(clock ticks)
(clock chimes) ("Auld Lang Syne")
(Ya Ya laughs)
(Zania laughs)
(Jayka laughs)
- How the hell do they do this? (laughs)
(Skylar laughs)
- I mean, I could stuff them all in my mouth,
but then I wouldn't be able to breathe.
That's fun though, that is a fun tradition to have, for sure.
- (FBE) Do you feel lucky?
- I'm so lucky. The luckiest I've ever felt.
♪ (upbeat music) ♪
- (FBE) What are you looking at?
- Noodles and some type of sauce.
I've seen these before, I've definitely seen these before.
- They're like noodles.
They're like purplish, and is this soy sauce?
- (FBE) What part of the world do you think these
are considered lucky in?
- I feel like an Asian country.
Just the soy sauce, you know, and the noodles.
Maybe Korea? - Japan?
- (FBE) Yeah, that's right! - Yeah! (laughs)
Wow, me being half Japanese, oh my gosh. (laughs)
- (FBE) What do you think is lucky about a noodle?
- Maybe if you put,
I've heard you pour sauce on top of the noodles,
so maybe when the noodles press down,
it has something to do with luck?
- I don't know, maybe noodles signify life
and the length of life, and...
- (FBE) Rachel. - What?
- (FBE) You just got it. - Stop, stop!
- (FBE) In Japan, long noodles can represent a long life.
So what we want you to do is find the longest noodle you can
and try to slurp it down without breaking the noodle.
- Okay.
- I'll put this in the soy sauce, and then...
Mmm!
- Ah!
I did it!
(Rachel claps)
- I was in Japan last year and I remember my dad telling me,
like don't break the noodles.
(smacks lips)
Mmm, yum! (giggles)
I hope I have long life now. Knock on wood.
♪ (upbeat music) ♪
- Is that fish?
- Oh this is like a full, like fish head.
Ooh.
- Is it Tilapia?
This is exactly how my grandma would give it to me too.
So like this smell is so familiar to me.
- (FBE) What part of the world do you think considers this good luck?
- I'm thinking somewhere where there's a lot of fish.
Maybe near the water.
I kinda wanna say Norway for some reason.
- I don't know, okay, fish.
I'm still thinking Asian country. I don't know why.
I'm thinking like Thailand.
- I'm Filipino,
I feel like a lot of Filipinos always eat Tilapia too.
It's always at parties and stuff.
That's my guess, I mean, I grew up eating this.
- (FBE) The country we're looking for here
is actually China. - Ah.
- (FBE) Why might China consider whole fish lucky?
- (sighs) Whole.
I do know that Asian countries really, really, like seafood,
and animals of the water.
Maybe like, they swim, and you know,
like through life, you just keep swimming.
- Maybe it has something to do with life,
because they're not taking the eyes out and stuff.
Maybe it has something religiously to do,
like keeping its body intact and eating it from like its gut.
- (FBE) Fish are considered lucky in three ways.
First, the scales on the outside of their body resemble coins,
representing money, second, they travel in schools,
which represents prosperity, and third,
fish always swim forward, symbolizing forward movement in life.
- Oh, I never like, I never thought how fish swim,
'cause I never think about them.
- I always thought that fish were just fish,
and that it was just, it was like good,
and you just fry it.
I never thought that fish would be a lucky food.
- Oh my gosh, China has a lot of cool traditions too.
I want my grandma here to like feed it to me.
She would literally hand feed it to me like this.
So I, yeah, we don't need forks over here.
- Actually, in India, like, a fish eye is good luck.
So seeing a whole fish, my mom does cook whole fish,
like roasted, like literally like this.
So yeah, no, I'm not surprised,
but the reasons behind it are super cool.
Like the scales and everything.
- (FBE) So finally, of all the foods we told you about today,
which surprised you the most as a lucky food?
- Mmm, probably grapes.
'Cause I think that grapes aren't too special,
but they're really good.
I never thought that people actually eat 12 grapes on New Year's.
- I think the noodles.
That's like a harmless, cute tradition.
Especially like with kids and stuff. It's super cute.
- Definitely the fish!
I will do all, however many good luck things that I have to do
just to make sure 2021 is at least a decent year.
At least a tiny bit better. (laughs)
- Thanks so much for watching us Try Global Good Luck Foods on REPLAY.
- Don't forget to subscribe. We have new shows every week.
- Bye!
- Hello, REPLAY producer Lindsey here.
Thanks so much for watching this episode of People Vs. Food.
Make sure you subscribe to REPLAY so you never miss a video.
And best of luck to you all in the new year.