A mooncake is a Chinese baked good eaten traditionally during the Mid-Autumn Festival. The festival is timed to the full moon of the autumnal equinox, hence the name mooncake. Mooncakes come in elaborate patterns, and in this this video from Andrew Gooi at Food Talkies we see them made by hand using fine wooden molds.
The subject of the video is Mr. Tam, a veteran pastry and dim sum chef. It’s important to him to preserve the tradition of making mooncakes by hand, the way that he has done his entire life, rather than using a machine. We see mooncakes go from dough to finished product as Mr. Tam reminiscences about Mid-Autumn Festivals of the past.
Craving a mooncake? The Mid-Autumn Festival happens annually on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Han calendar, (or, between September 8 and October 7 in the Gregorian calendar).
