Fish is a very logicalchoice for the New Year's table. According to Mark Kurlansky, author ofCod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World, cod has been a popular feast food since the Middle Ages. He compares it to turkey on Thanksgiving. The reason

? Long before refrigeration and modern transportation, cod could be preserved and transported allowing it to reach the Mediterranean and even as far as North Africa and the Caribbean. Kurlansky also believes the Catholic Church's policy against red meat consumption on religious holidays helped make cod, as well

as other fish, commonplace at feasts. The Danish eat boiled cod, while in Italy, baccalà, or dried salt cod, is enjoyed from Christmas through NewYear's. Herring, another frequently preserved fish, is consumed atmidnight in Poland and Germany-Germans also enjoy

carp and have been known to place a few fish scales in their wallets for good luck.