The ups and downs of a small mooncake
LAST week, the Chinese celebrated one of their most important festivals of the year--the Mid-Autumn Festival. It is the day when the moon is believed to be at its brightest and fullest size. Big family reunions are held, with all members expected to be home so that the family is as full as the moon.
Like all traditional festivals, there is an iconic food. In this case, it is the mooncake. Mooncakes are round, palm-sized pastries with various fillings. In the past two decades, this small cake experienced quite some ups and downs as a festival food and gift.
In the 1980s and 90s, when I was little, mooncakes only appeared during the festival period and came in very limited choices. Mixed nuts and red bean paste seemed to be the only fillings.
They were big in size, inexpensive, crudely made and packaged, and not very tasty. Not too sweet, not too smooth or soft.
But coming into the 21st century, when the economy was taking off in China, the once homely snack became something we could hardly recognize.
They began to be stuffed with modern and surprising fillings, including everything from ice cream to cookie dough, foie gras, abalone, and edible bird’s nest. Some of the more exotic and pricey mooncakes include those filled with shark fin or packaged with gold bars. They grew smaller, with more exquisite patterns, and tasted more moist and velvety.
Over packaging became the trend.
Instead of being bought by the kilos, they were finely embedded in luxury containers, which were sometimes made from rare wood, glass or high-quality paper. French wines, watches, tea sets and even pearls could be found alongside the humble cake. The price for such a container of six mooncakes could be somewhere between hundreds and thousands of RMB.
At this point, mooncakes became something much more than a festival delicacy for families. It was a high-end gift for corporate partners and clients. There was also the speculation that the cakes were bought and given as inducements to government officials.
Before things were getting out of control, the government stepped in. In 2012, the Chinese Communist Party implemented with great vigor an eight-point frugality code to cut waste and extravagance and stem corruption. This was followed by a special ban in 2013 by the top anti-graft watchdog of the Party on gifting mooncakes with public funds.
A few years into the implementation of the new rules, over-packaged and overpriced mooncakes have quietly exited the market. Manufacturers have also tuned in to the demand of consumers for healthy food and environment-friendly products. Lighter versions of mooncakes, which are traditionally high in sugar and fat, can be found on the shelf now, and packaged in a simple way. Our humble dessert has made a comeback.
If you would like to find out how it tastes, I believe the Chinese supermarkets still have some of them on their shelves.