Mid-Autumn Festival Foods: 7 Traditional Delights for the Mid-Autumn Festival
Introduction: The Mid-Autumn Festival is a time for reunion, when the moon is full and families come together. It's a rare occasion to raise a glass to the moon and celebrate with loved ones, and what better way than with delicious food? So, what do people eat for the Mid-Autumn Festival? There's a well-known saying: "On the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month, the moon is round, and the Mid-Autumn mooncakes are fragrant and sweet." During this festival, we all eat mooncakes to symbolize family unity. But did you know that besides mooncakes, there are other traditional foods for the Mid-Autumn Festival? Below, Aimei.com shares 7 traditional delicacies for the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Eating Mooncakes
Eating mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival is a long-standing tradition in China. With clear breezes, a bright moon, and the sweet fragrance of osmanthus, families enjoy mooncakes and admire the moon, celebrating their reunion in a unique and joyous way. As a food shaped like the full moon and filled with delicious fillings, mooncakes appeared as early as the Northern Song Dynasty. The poet and gourmet Su Shi wrote the verse: "Small cakes are like chewing the moon, with crispy pastry and sweet syrup inside." As a food item, the term "mooncake" was first recorded in the Southern Song Dynasty's "Wulin Old Matters: Steamed and Prepared Foods." At that time, it was common in Hangzhou for people to give each other mooncakes "to symbolize reunion." By the late Yuan Dynasty, mooncakes had become a festive delicacy for the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Eating Duck
In China's Yunnan Province, the Mulao people buy cakes and kill ducks to celebrate this traditional festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month. This custom commemorates the family of a candy seller who traveled from village to village, urging fellow villagers to kill the "foreign devils" (the ruling Mongols). To honor this family and to teach future generations not to forget the struggle against invasion, the Mulao people buy cakes and kill ducks every year on this day.
Eating Taro
Eating taro during the Mid-Autumn Festival is believed to ward off evil and disaster, symbolizing a refusal to accept misfortune. The "Chaozhou Prefecture Gazetteer" from the Qianlong era of the Qing Dynasty states: "On the Mid-Autumn night, peeling and eating taro is called 'peeling ghost skin.'" Eating ghosts in this manner shows the great spirit of Zhong Kui driving away demons, which is truly admirable.
In ancient times, the Mid-Autumn Festival was a major occasion for farmers. In rural northern China, there was only one harvest of rice and millet each year. During the autumn harvest season, seeing the results of a year of hard labor, farmers believed they were secretly protected by the God of the Land and their ancestors. Moreover, the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month was the birthday of the God of the Land, so it had to be celebrated grandly. When offering sacrifices to the god on this day, taro was one of the offerings. A whole cooked taro was placed on a plate, or taro in rice noodle soup (a soup made with taro) was served in a large bowl on the offering table to thank the God of the Land. Now, this sacrificial ceremony no longer exists, but the custom of eating taro during the Mid-Autumn Festival has been preserved. In the south, people use taro for moon worship, which is said to commemorate the historical story of the Han people killing the "Tatars" (referring to the ruling Tartars of the Yuan Dynasty) at the end of the Yuan Dynasty. The Han people launched their uprising to overthrow the brutal rule of the Mongols on the night of August 15th. After the uprising, they used the heads of the fallen to worship the moon. Later, of course, it was no longer possible to use human heads for this ceremony each year, so taro was used as a substitute. To this day, in some places, peeling taro during the Mid-Autumn Festival is still called "peeling ghost skin."
Eating River Snails
As for eating river snails during the Mid-Autumn Festival, the "Shunde County Gazetteer" from the Xianfeng era of the Qing Dynasty records: "On the fifteenth day of the eighth month, people eat taro and snails." Folk belief holds that eating snails during the Mid-Autumn Festival can improve eyesight. Analysis shows that snail meat is nutritious and contains vitamin A, which is an important substance for the visual pigment of the eye. Therefore, the claim that eating snails can improve eyesight is logical. But why is there a particular enthusiasm for eating them specifically during the Mid-Autumn Festival? Some point out that around the Mid-Autumn Festival, snails are not carrying young, so their meat is especially plump and delicious, making it the best time to eat them. Today, in many households in Guangzhou, it is a custom to stir-fried river snails during the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Eating Pumpkin
In various regions south of the Yangtze River, there is a custom of eating old pumpkin with glutinous rice on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month.
Legend has it that a long, long time ago, there was a poor family at the foot of South Mountain. The parents were old, and they had only one daughter named Huanghua, who was beautiful, smart, kind, and hardworking. For years, there were famines. Huanghua's parents were old and sick, and with a lack of clothes and food, they were lying on their deathbeds. On that fifteenth day of the eighth month, Huanghua discovered two flat, round wild gourds in the weeds on South Mountain. She picked them, cooked them for her parents to eat. The fragrant and sweet meal greatly increased the elderly couple's appetite, and they recovered from their illness. Huanghua then planted the seeds from the gourds in the ground. The next year, they took root and sprouted, growing many round gourds. Since they were from South Mountain, they were called pumpkins. From then on, every year on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, the custom of eating old pumpkin with glutinous rice spread throughout the households in the regions south of the Yangtze River.
Drinking Osmanthus Wine
On every Mid-Autumn night, people gaze up at the bright moon, smell the sweet fragrance of osmanthus, and recall the legend of Wu Gang chopping the osmanthus tree. Drinking a cup of sweet osmanthus wine has become a festive pleasure, celebrating the family's sweet reunion. Osmanthus is not only for ornamental purposes but also has edible value. In Qu Yuan's "Nine Songs," there are the lines: "I grasp the dipper ladle and ladle out the osmanthus wine," and "I offer osmanthus wine and peppered wine." This shows that the tradition of drinking osmanthus wine in China dates back a very long time.
Eating Lotus Root Boxes
Eating lotus root during the Mid-Autumn Festival also symbolizes reunion, especially eating "lotus root boxes." People in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions slice lotus root, leaving the bottom two slices connected, and fill them with a mixture of meat, clams, or other ingredients. They are then coated in batter and fried until golden. This is also called lotus root cakes, sharing a similar symbolic meaning with mooncakes. Currently, there are two main varieties of lotus root on the market: the seven-hole lotus root and the nine-hole lotus root. The seven-hole variety is more commonly cultivated in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang area. This variety has excellent quality, with a fine, tender, fresh, crisp, sweet, and pure white flesh. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that after being cooked, the nature of the lotus root changes from cool to warm, benefiting the spleen and stomach, and has the effects of nourishing the stomach, nourishing yin, and enriching the blood.