Mooncake is a round Chinese pastry, usually made of crispy dough wrapped in a sweet bean paste or lotus seed paste filling and then baked. In ancient China, moon cakes were an offering to worship the moon god at mid-autumn. Under the moon, a statue of the moon god is placed in the direction of the moon, red candles are lit, and the whole family worships the moon in turn before the housewife cuts the reunion mooncake. Since the round moon cakes resemble the full moon, they are often used as a symbol of reunion and completeness.
Chang’e Flies to the Moon – Project Gutenberg EText 15250. 2005. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chang%27e_flies_to_the_moon_-_Project_Gutenberg_eText_15250.jpg#mw-jump-to-license.
The legend of the Mid-Autumn Festival is that a warrior named Hou Yi received the immortality potion from the gods for helping to shoot down nine suns. But after becoming a hero, Hou Yi became very violent and many people were afraid of him, including his wife, Chang’e. So one day, Chang’e stole and ate the immortality pill and became a fairy and flew to the moon. Since Chang’e did many good deeds in the mortal world, so every year at the Mid-Autumn Festival, everyone worshiped her. When I was young, my mother said that the girl who looked at the moon and ate moon cakes on the Mid-Autumn Festival would be blessed by Chang’e. So I did as I was told, hoping to become as beautiful and kind as Chang’e.
Zane80. Coloured Mooncakes with Different Flavors 1. September 6, 2011. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Coloured_Mooncakes_with_different_flavors_1.jpg.
There are many different types of mooncakes in China, especially different cities have different ways of making mooncakes. Some of the most famous traditional moon cakes are the salted egg yolk moon cakes from Guangzhou, the crispy meat-filled moon cakes from Suzhou and the taro mud moon cakes from Chaozhou. Nowadays, the traditional food is being innovated in the form of mooncakes to cater to the tastes of young people. For example, chocolate filled mooncakes, Hong Kong’s snowy mooncakes, and ice cream mooncakes. I even found out that Haagen-Dazs has also launched mooncakes where they put their own ice cream as filling in the crust and received a lot of young people.
When it comes to the various flavors of mooncakes, the most controversial is the five-kernel mooncake. Five-kernel mooncake is a kind of Canton mooncake, is a taste of five kinds of nuts plus sugar winter melon and other materials stuffed into a thin puff pastry. Then too sweet taste and candied nuts soft taste has been much criticized, but because it is a traditional taste, many elderly people love to eat. I don’t buy five-kernel mooncakes for consumption until now because I still can’t get used to that taste.
Bibliography "Across China: Exotic Mooncakes Delight Chinese Taste Buds." Xinhua News Agency - CEIS, Sep 20, 2021. https://ezproxy.kpu.ca:2443/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/wire-feeds/across-china-exotic-mooncakes-delight-chinese/docview/2574264731/se-2. Adams, Wanda A. "It's Season for Eating Moon Cakes: Chinatown Bakers Churning Out Thousands for Autumn Festival." McClatchy - Tribune Business News, Sep 23, 2009. https://ezproxy.kpu.ca:2443/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/wire-feeds/season-eating-moon-cakes-chinatown-bakers/docview/465163245/se-2. "China Celebrates Mid-Autumn Festival with Mooncakes: CHINA FESTIVAL." EFE News Service, Sep 15, 2016. https://ezproxy.kpu.ca:2443/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/wire-feeds/china-celebrates-mid-autumn-festival-with/docview/1819306438/se-2. Jackson, Belinda. "The Classic Dish Mooncakes Where's it from? China - Mooncakes are an Essential Feature...[Derived Headline]." Sunday Age, Oct 01, 2017. https://ezproxy.kpu.ca:2443/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/classic-dish-mooncakes-wheres-china-are-essential/docview/1944575885/se-2. "Lanterns & Mooncakes: Chinatown Celebrates Mid-Autumn Festival in Style." University Wire, Oct 08, 2017. https://ezproxy.kpu.ca:2443/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/wire-feeds/lanterns-amp-mooncakes-chinatown-celebrates-mid/docview/1948333804/se-2.
