It's all about the Mooncake...
Not really...
There are always lessons to be learned, stories to be told...but most importantly...Food To Eat!
Here is a link for the History & Origin of Mid-Autumn Festival:
http://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/culture/history-and-origin.htm
For our purpose, it's just about the "Mooncake."
What is it?
It's a Chinese pastry, typically round or rectangular with a approx. 3" diameter . Made of a thick sweetened lotus seed paste filling (nowadays, they are filled with all sorts of pasty ingredients), surrounded by a thin doughy crust. It may or may not contain salted duck egg yolk (sounds "interesting" to say the least, obviously an acquired taste, but a good one IMHO) .
Mooncake is usually eaten in small wedges with a cup of tea. Families and businesses present them as gifts. Over the years, mooncake has become more and more expansive and exclusive, $25-50 for a box of four. Mini-mooncake can cost up to $5 per piece.
An interesting article on high-end mooncakes - Shanghai Presents - Magnificent Mooncakes
http://www.thatsmags.com/shanghai/index.php/article/detail/980
At our house growing up...
As children, I don't think we loved it, but made it fun with how we would eat it.
We did like the double egg yolks ones better.
Each cake is cut into 8 pieces. But, we can't peek at the inside. The yolks are not typically distributed evenly in the cake. So each 8th will not get an equal amount of filling and yolk. It became a game as to who would get the "loser" pieces, the ones without the yolk.
Sometimes, even for a Chinese daughter, it is Not about the food...but the Memories.
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