SEEING an advert for mooncakes by one of Yangon’s more famous hotels, I found my eyebrows rising up in quiet indignation at the hefty price. Why are mooncakes — surely one of the more simple foods to make — being sold for around US$4-5 each? Now I’ll admit that good cake is expensive and I don’t mind paying $4 for a delicious piece of mocha cake, but for a piece of mooncake, I’m just not sure I’d be willing.
So with my curiosity brimming and in the interests of nothing but good journalism, I felt it necessary to submit myself to trying a few of the mooncakes the hotels are currently offering.
I started with a plain durian paste mooncake at the Parkroyal Hotel for $4.50. I’ve never been a big fan of durian, and having tried the mooncake, still aren’t. Although in fairness, when my friend tried the cake he thought it quite fantastic and finished the whole piece with consummate speed.
I next tried the red bean paste mooncake with egg yolk, a marginally cheaper option at $4. I’m quite the fan of bean paste so this cake went down quite well, although I feared the price of it might give me indigestion.
Onwards to Traders Hotel where we tried the white lotus paste mooncakes with and without yolk for $5 and $5.75 a piece. They were both quite delicious, and even rivalled the red bean paste mooncake also on sale. All the mooncakes were good but I was still no wiser as to why they’re so expensive.
I did though learn something of the history and tradition behind the mid-autumn or Lantern festival, which is the second most important event in the Chinese festival calendar.
Also known as the Moon Festival, it is held on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar and so falls on the September 14 this year.
The traditional mooncake is made in either round or rectangular shape, about 4 to 5 cm thick and typically made of lotus paste surrounded by a thin crust. It may contain yolks from duck eggs.
More elaborate versions of mooncakes contain four egg yolks representing the four phases of the moon along with lotus seed paste. The traditional fillings include red bean paste and black bean paste. Chinese people eat mooncake with Chinese tea.
The festival is a time when the Chinese gather with their families. If in case family members cannot be together, they will watch the full moon while eating mooncake and think about each other. In Hong Kong, any open space or mountain top is crowded with people trying to get a glimpse of this season’s auspicious full moon.
Even though Neil Armstrong made his first landing in the moon in 1969, Chinese people believe that the first person on the moon was a beautiful woman who lived during the Hsia dynasty (2205-1766BC).
There is a saying in Chinese that marriages are made in heaven and prepared on the moon. They believe there is an old man of the moon who keeps a record book with all the names of newborn babies. So, the children and adults would climb the high places and pray that man.
Today, modern mooncakes containing coffee, chocolate, nuts (walnuts, mixed nuts, etc), fruits (prunes, pineapples, melons, etc), vegetables (sweet potatoes, etc), ham, and even lychees have also come been marketed.
To adapt to today’s health-conscious lifestyle, many bakeries offer miniature mooncakes and fat-free mooncakes made of yogurt, jelly, and fat-free ice-cream. Even high-fibre low-sugar mooncakes are available in China now.
If you want to buy the delicious mooncakes to eat while gazing up at moon or to give to friends and elders as gifts, they are available at Traders Hotel and Parkroyal Hotel. Lotus paste plain or with egg yolk, durian paste plain or with egg yolk, snow skin durian paste plain and red bean paste plain with egg yolk are available at Parkroyal Hotel until September 15. You can get 1 box free if you buy 10 gift boxes.
Traders Hotel is also selling red bean paste, red bean paste single yolk, white lotus paste and white lotus paste single yolk mooncakes until September 15. The boxes, each containing 4 pieces, cost from $19-23.
