Mouthing Off | I’m not over the moon about mooncakes – in my reality, everybody hates them. So why are we still eating these Mid-Autumn Festival gifts?
- Yes, mooncakes have a rich and varied history; but in 2022, why are we still eating these stodgy bricks full of sugar, calories and cholesterol?
- Environmental group Green Power says over 1.9 million mooncakes were dumped in Hong Kong in 2019, so let’s phase them and their packaging out
Hong Kong has a love-hate relationship with mooncakes. It is assumed that everyone loves these traditional Mid-Autumn pastries, but in reality everybody hates them.
I can’t eat more than a tiny sliver before I feel like a fatberg is hardening in my intestines. For a wider perspective, I wanted to consult friends or anyone who enjoys these dense and stodgy round bricks. So far, I can’t.
Everyone will agreeably take a little bit over the Mid-Autumn Festival, but nobody is particularly enthusiastic about eating mooncakes. The general consensus is they are too sweet, too rich, and too full of calories and cholesterol.
Yet every autumn we buy lots and lots of tin trays and immaculately designed gift boxes – and these are not cheap – for friends and relatives with the unspoken caveat of, “here you go, auntie and uncle. I know you’re not going to eat it but I’m duty bound to buy you a box every year”. Yes, it’s the Chinese equivalent of Christmas cake.
The tyranny most people are fighting now is their granny forcing them to eat these unappetising mooncakes. It’s actually not kindness that she wants you to have another piece. She’s just trying to get rid of her unwanted gifts. Pre-slicing these mahogany hockey pucks makes it easier to pawn off a few more wedges to sweet-toothed youngsters.
