Mooncakes are the main food of the Mid-Autumn Festival. Mooncakes symbolize reunion.

There are also different opinions about the origin of eating moon cakes. One is that Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty went to the northern Turks on August 15th and returned in triumph with a round cake.

Mooncakes invite toads", and they ate together with civil and military officials. From then on, the custom of eating mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival began.

One theory is that when Emperor Ming of the Tang Dynasty visited the Moon Palace, he ate the fairy cakes entertained by Chang'e and then ordered someone to make them when he returned to the palace.

Another theory is that it was a peasant uprising at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, and paper slips inside mooncakes were used to convey information about the uprising.

However, according to literature records, mooncakes first appeared in the Southern Song Dynasty. However, mooncakes at that time had nothing to do with the Mid-Autumn Festival and were only used as a steamed food.

"foods, such as "lotus leaf cakes", "mutton steamed buns", "vegetable cakes" and "moon cakes", etc., but it is believed that the "moon cakes" are probably a common moon-shaped food, not the kind of food in later generations.

Moon cakes, which are inseparable from the Mid-Autumn Festival, appear in the food market.

Mooncakes were really associated with the Mid-Autumn Festival in the Ming Dynasty.

At that time, a kind of mooncake with fruit stuffing appeared in the city of Beijing (the actual mention of Mid-Autumn mooncakes is in the Ming Dynasty documents, such as Shen Bang's "Wanshu Miscellanies·Folk Customs" "Mooncakes for August" says: "Furniture for common people"

Therefore, the moon cakes are made from moon cakes of various sizes, and are called moon cakes. In the market, they use fruit as filling, and they have a strange name. One cake is worth hundreds of dollars." Another example is Tian Rucheng's "West Lake Travel Chronicles" Volume 20.

"The Mid-Autumn Festival": "The 15th day of August is called the Mid-Autumn Festival, and people use moon cakes as gifts to symbolize reunion." From this, it can be seen that moon cakes were generally recognized as a festive food during the Mid-Autumn Festival in the Ming Dynasty.)

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On the Mid-Autumn Festival, people make mooncakes for themselves and as gifts to friends and relatives to express reunion and congratulations.

At that time, the size and shape of mooncakes were very irregular and varied greatly, and there were many and interesting ways to make them. For example, there were crescent mooncakes specially for men, gourd mooncakes only for women, and "calabash mooncakes" specially prepared for teenagers.

Moon cakes such as "Sun Wukong" and "Lord Rabbit" are available in many varieties.

In modern times, mooncakes are not only well-made, but also increasingly diverse.

Reunion Cake On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, in most parts of China, there is still the custom of baking "Reunion Cake".

They are large and small pancakes similar to moon cakes. Each steamer only steams one pancake. The pancake is filled with sugar, sesame, osmanthus and vegetables, and the outside of the pancake is embossed with various patterns.

After worshiping the moon on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, the elders cut it into pieces, and family members eat one piece, which is called "reunion."

Eating taro During the Mid-Autumn Festival, there is also the custom of eating taro in many places in China.

On this festival day, every household cooks a pot of sweet potato and taro for family consumption.

It is said that it is to thank the father-in-law of the land for giving sweet potatoes and taro to the poor to relieve their poverty.

People on the southeastern coast also associate eating taro with the overthrow of the tyranny of the Yuan Dynasty by the Han people in the late Yuan Dynasty (eating taro during the Mid-Autumn Festival is popular in the south, and it is said to commemorate the historical story of the Han people killing the Tatars in the late Yuan Dynasty (referring to the Tatars, the rulers of the Yuan Dynasty). At the beginning, the Han people revolted and overthrew the Yuan Dynasty.

During the tyrannical rule of the Mongols in the Yuan Dynasty, on the night of August 15th, after the Tatar uprising, the Han people used their heads to sacrifice to the moon. Later, of course, it was impossible to sacrifice human heads to the moon every Mid-Autumn Festival, so they used taro instead. This is still the case today.

In some places, peeling taro skin is called "peeling ghost skin" when eating taro during the Mid-Autumn Festival. It is said that the custom of eating taro during the Mid-Autumn Festival has been preserved.

"Taro" is a homophone for "disaster". Eating taro does not forget the danger of the country and the nation.

Food for the Mid-Autumn Festival in other countries: Japan calls the Mid-Autumn Festival the "Full Moon Festival". In the evening, the whole family gathers in the yard to worship the moon, offering fruits, rice dumplings, etc., and then sharing the food.

The Mid-Autumn Festival in North Korea is called "Chusei Festival", and there is also the custom of admiring the moon and eating moon cakes.

The cakes eaten are steamed cakes and pancakes stuffed with soy flour and sugar. The offerings include "medicated porridge" similar to "eight treasure porridge", which is made of glutinous rice, red dates, chestnuts and sugar. It is sweet and delicious.

The Mid-Autumn Festival in Thailand is called "Qi Yue Festival".

On festival nights, every household makes an arch with sugar cane, and offers portraits or statues of Guanyin Bodhisattva and the Eight Immortals on the moon-worshiping square table. The main offerings are longevity peaches.

According to Thai legend, it is Guanyin who ascends to the moon. During the Mid-Autumn Festival, the Eight Immortals brought longevity peaches to the Moon Palace to celebrate Guanyin's birthday.

Yilang calls the Mid-Autumn Festival "Maheer Festival". This day falls on the 16th day of the seventh lunar month in Yilang.

During the festival, people enjoy tasting various harvest fruits.

On the African island of Calcutta, residents call the Mid-Autumn Festival the "Full Moon Festival."

During the "Full Moon Festival", a grand "Conch Blowing Party" is held on the beach, where people drink wine, eat fish and rice in joy.

The United States calls the Mid-Autumn Festival the "Autumn Moon Festival."

During the festival, every household eats grapes, chestnuts, beans and other fresh fruits and newly prepared foods.