Noodles for long life
In China long noodles are eaten on birthdays and never cut, because cutting them shortens life.
Household superstition
Food superstitions
Food superstitions: fish eaten head to tail, noodles never cut, bread never placed upside down. First recorded: Varies; most European rules from the medieval period. That makes it somewhere between 500 and 1,500 years old — joint 29th oldest of the 45 superstitions we have dated.
- Earliest record
- Medieval see the history below
When it actually starts
How old is this one
First recorded
Varies; most European rules from the medieval period
That makes it
somewhere between 500 and 1,500 years old
Rank by age
Joint 29th oldest of 45 dated here
Category
Household
Food rules cluster around scarcity: never waste bread, never turn a loaf upside down, never pass the salt hand to hand. Nearly all of them protect something that was expensive or hard to replace.
Why it stuck. A rule that protects a scarce resource survives long after the scarcity ends, because nobody notices when a prohibition stops being needed.
28 of the dated superstitions here were written down earlier and 12 later, while 4 share its date.
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The versions people follow
What exactly is believed
Bread upside down
In France a loaf laid upside down on the table invites bad luck or hunger.
Chopsticks upright
Chopsticks stuck upright in rice resemble incense at a funeral and are avoided in Japan, China and Korea.
Pork for New Year
In Germany and the American South pork is eaten at New Year because pigs root forward, bringing progress.
How the bad luck is traditionally undone
A dropped piece of bread is kissed before it is picked up in several Mediterranean and Middle Eastern households.
Where it lives today
Food superstitions persist mainly as table manners and festival dishes, which is why they are among the most practiced of all.
What people say
Fish eaten head to tail, noodles never cut, bread never placed upside down.What is going on
The upside-down loaf taboo is usually traced to France, where bakers are said to have set aside the executioner's loaf upside down.Where it applies. Every cuisine has its own set and they rarely agree.
Other household superstitions
Nearest in age
Food superstitions are joint 29th oldest of the 45 dated superstitions here. Of those, 3 date from 1900 or later and 14 predate the common era.
First-recorded dates are the earliest documented appearance in written sources, not the earliest possible origin — an unrecorded practice can be older. How the dating works and where it is uncertain →
Cite this page
AstroHot. “Food Superstitions: Origin, Meaning and When It Began.” Accessed October 28, 2026. https://astrohot.com/superstitions/food-superstitions/
For Wikipedia
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