An American in Chengdu
Moon cakes | September 24, 2009
The Mid-Autumn Festival is coming up, and moon cakes are everywhere. The supermarkets have tables and tables of them in big, showy gift boxes. There are versions in humbler packaging, as well. The filling options range from strawberries to bacon. One student (not my student–it wasn’t bribery) even gave me a foam moon cake on a key chain. It smells like vanilla. I can neither confirm nor deny rumors that I mistook it for the real thing and tried to take a bite out of it.
Yesterday I went by the school’s international office and picked up my official holiday gift, one of those big showy boxes of moon cakes. I haven’t actually tried one yet, and am hoping they’re bacon-free. But with packaging this pretty, the taste almost seems beside the point.
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- The box, with matching gift bag
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- And inside… more boxes!
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- Moon cake at last
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You really need to give more consideration to what you put in your mouth. In very few cultures do artisans attach keychains to actual edibles.
Comment by Nanerd — September 26, 2009 @ 10:36 am
This keychain isn’t actually artisanal. And all kinds of strange things are considered edible here. Like bamboo.
Comment by americaninchengdu — September 27, 2009 @ 9:37 pm
Bamboo shoots are tasty. I bought a pack of pork “moon cakes” this weekend. They look nothing like the traditional ones in the pictures above but they do share the golden face with the red chop imprint. My favorites are the ones with the dried fruit and nuts filling, like a fruit cake without the rum.
Comment by Ming — September 30, 2009 @ 12:03 pm