Mooncake Fever

Two holidays have arrived together this year: Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day. National Day celebrating the establishment of the People's Republic of China now for its 60th year and Mid-Autumn Festival marking the 15th day of the 8th month in the lunar calendar.

At some point in history mooncakes became an integral part of the Mid-Autum Festival probably stemming from a tale dating back to the Yuan Dynasty.

"According to popular belief, the custom of eating mooncakes began in the late Yuan dynasty. As the story goes, the Han people of that time resented the Mongol rule of the Yuan Dynasty and revolutionaries, led by Chu Yuan-chang, plotted to usurp the throne. Chu needed to find a way of uniting the people to revolt on the same day without letting the Mongol rulers learn of the plan. Chu's close advisor, Liu Po-wen, finally came up with a brilliant idea. A rumor was spread that a plague was ravaging the land and that only by eating a special mooncake distributed by the revolutionaries could the disaster be prevented. The mooncakes were then distributed only to the Han people, who found, upon cutting the cakes open, the message "Revolt on the fifteenth of the eighth moon." Thus informed, the people rose together on the designated day to overthrow the Yuan, and since that time mooncakes have become an integral part of the Mid-Autumn Festival."

I am convinced that they intentionally made the mooncakes heavy as a brick, thick as tar, and tasty as concrete to keep the Mongols from ever eating one and thus deciphering the code. How the tradition has survived so long when 90% of Chinese don't seem to enjoy eating them is something that is beyond my comprehension. Most people re-gift the mooncakes after receiving them so they can just pass them off to someone else. Most people receive 100's of these little things which is definitely more than one person can or ever should eat. Consider that most mooncakes can have upwards of 700 calories and 40 grams of fat. To put that in prospective consider that a Big Mac has "only" 485 calories and 22 grams of fat. I never thought that there would be a scenario in history where a 100 individually wrapped Big Mac's would actually be the diet option.

On top of that this holiday is not exactly in line with the new go green trend. For a country trying to do more recycling and in many cities banning the complete use of plastic bags, the packaging for each batch of moon cakes is nothing short of a colossal waste. Here is a description from the image thief :

"a heavy, embossed and foil stamped bag with rope handles. In the bag was a heavy cardboard box with a tri-fold faux-embroidery lid with faux-embroidery dragon applique. Within the box was a cardboard frame wrapped in a faux-silk shroud and lovingly cradling eight mooncakes. Each mooncake was in an individual cardboard box, a sealed plastic wrap and a plastic cup. Two pairs of wooden chopsticks in a fabric envelope were included for good measure. The theme throughout was tasteful and subdued imperial yellow garnished with dragons."

I used to think the mooncakes were a cool little Chinese tradition to be a part of. But five years in I am as anti-mooncake as they come.