Tomorrow is the Mid-Autumn Festival

Have you heard of the Mid-Autumn Festival? In Asian cultures, this holiday is second only to the Lunar New Year.

It is a harvest festival, much like the American holiday, Thanksgiving. During this festival, families travel and gather together for a special meal. But instead of a turkey, the main feature of the festival is the moon cake.

Moon cakes are made of many different kinds of ingredients, but the most traditional one have bean paste and an egg yolk baked inside. They are delicious, sweet and rich. One tradition is to divide the moon cake for as many family members as you have, and to eat it with tea. Another is to put out a moon cake, fruit and other foods on an outdoor table or altar for the Moon Goddess.

The characters you see on stamped on the crust of Moon Cakes often indicate the bakery where it was made. You can buy them at most Asian supermarkets and bakeries this time of year.