The story of why we eat mooncakes on the Mid-Autumn Festival. Eating mooncakes on the Mid-Autumn Festival is related to Zhu Yuanzhang

The story of why we eat mooncakes on the Mid-Autumn Festival

There is a custom of eating mooncakes on the Mid-Autumn Festival. As the saying goes, There is: "August and fifteen are full, and the Mid-Autumn moon cakes are fragrant and sweet." Moon cakes were originally used as sacrifices to worship the moon god. The word "moon cake" was first seen in "Meng Liang Lu" written by Wu Zimu in the Southern Song Dynasty. At that time, it was just a cake-shaped food like caltrop cake. Later, people gradually combined the Mid-Autumn moon appreciation with the tasting of mooncakes, which symbolized family reunion.

Mooncakes and Zhu Yuanzhang’s Uprising

The vast number of people in the Central Plains could not bear the cruel rule of the Yuan Dynasty’s ruling class, and they revolted against the Yuan Dynasty one after another. Zhu Yuanzhang united various resistance forces to prepare for the uprising. However, the officers and soldiers of the imperial court conducted a very strict search, making it very difficult to convey the news. Military counselor Liu Bowen came up with a plan and ordered his subordinates to hide the note with "uprising on August 15th" in the cakes, and then sent people to deliver it to the insurrectionary armies in various places, informing them to respond to the uprising on the night of August 15th. . On the day of the uprising, all the rebel armies responded together, and the insurrectionary army was like a spark igniting a prairie fire. Soon, Xu Da captured Yuan Dadu and the uprising was successful. When the news came, Zhu Yuanzhang was so happy that he quickly passed down an oral order to let all the soldiers and the people have fun during the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival, and to reward the officials with the "mooncakes" that were used to secretly convey the message when the army was launched as seasonal cakes. Since then, the production of "mooncakes" has become more and more sophisticated, with more varieties, and the big ones are as big as discs, which have become a good gift. From then on, the custom of eating mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival spread among the people. Many special Mid-Autumn Festival customs have also been formed in some places

Since the Ming Dynasty, there have been a large number of records about moon cakes. At this time, the moon cakes were already round, and they were only eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival. It was a Mid-Autumn Festival popular among the people since the Ming Dynasty. The main offering when worshiping the moon. "A Brief Introduction to the Scenery of the Imperial Capital" says: "If you offer sacrifices to the moon on August 15th, the fruit cakes must be round." "If a household sets the moonlight in the direction of the moon, and worships towards the moon, the moonlight paper will be burned, the offerings will be removed, and the family will disperse. Must go. Moon cakes and moon fruits are given to each other by relatives, and the cakes are two feet in diameter.

Moon cakes symbolize reunion, and it should be combined with the Ming Dynasty's folk customs about moon cakes and Mid-Autumn Festival. From the data, we should be able to see the historical trajectory of moon cakes meaning reunion: after the Mid-Autumn Festival, the whole family sits around and eats moon cakes and fruits (moon sacrifice offerings) because the moon cakes are also round and are shared by the whole family. Eating mooncakes has gradually formed the meaning of family reunion.

What is the best pairing when eating mooncakes?

When tasting mooncakes, pair them with a pot of scented tea, green tea, oolong tea, or It is a good choice to drink some acetic acid drinks or acidic drinks to help digestion and remove greasiness. However, do not choose strong tea, coffee, soda, cola and other drinks. Strong tea, coffee, soda, cola, etc. contain high caffeine. Carbonated drinks contain a lot of calories and sugar, so they are not suitable to be eaten with mooncakes. Mooncakes are a delicious holiday delicacy, but they are also outright "junk food" for your health. Mooncakes should be enjoyed but not eaten too much. . In addition, in addition to moon cakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival, fruits such as grapefruit, Shatian pomelo, crystal pear, and orange, which are rich in vitamin C and dietary fiber, are both festive and healthy choices.

The best way to buy moon cakes.

Consumers have two concepts when it comes to choosing mooncakes: First, mooncakes with a short shelf life have less preservatives; second, mooncakes that are not sweet have low calories.

In this regard, A professor from the Department of Spleen and Gastroenterology said that the shelf life of mooncakes varies depending on their raw materials, technology and packaging methods, and they should be treated differently. Some mooncakes with a long shelf life do contain more preservatives than other mooncakes, but many mooncakes have two additional preservatives. Reasons: First, bags of preservatives, desiccants or antioxidants are placed in the packaging box to extend the storage time of the mooncakes, instead of being added to the mooncakes themselves; secondly, mooncakes containing a lot of sugar and oil are not easy to deteriorate. In addition, spleen and stomach diseases are not easy to cause. Professor Ke also reminded that when buying mooncakes, you should not only look at the shelf life, but also pay attention to the storage environment. The shelf life marked on the mooncake packaging usually refers to the shelf life when stored in a dry and cool place at around 25°C, but some mooncakes cannot be kept constant. Storage conditions...

In response to the problem that many people think that unsweet mooncakes are low in calories, a professor from the Department of Spleen and Gastroenterology said that in addition to sugar and starch, mooncakes actually contain a lot of fat. In order to taste delicious and moist, most of them add too much lard or baking fat. Excessive intake of these ingredients (saturated fatty acids or trans fatty acids) can easily lead to an increase in blood triglycerides and cholesterol.

In order to avoid eating too much fat and causing dyslipidemia, you can also choose the type of mooncakes. You can eat less puff pastry mooncakes (such as egg yolk puff pastry, Cantonese-style mooncakes) and choose hemp-skin mooncakes. In addition, mooncakes containing egg yolks and fatty meats should also be consumed with caution to avoid an increase in blood cholesterol and cardiovascular burden after enjoying the delicious food.