understanding Mid-Autumn Festival in Taiwan

中秋節烤肉

It is on the 15th lunar month of the lunar calendar or about the full moon in September or October of the Gregorian calendar.

The Chinese nation first discovered that the Mid-Autumn Festival was in the 10th century BC, and the Mid-Autumn Festival began to become very common from the seventh to the tenth century. Today, the Mid-Autumn Festival is a festival celebrated by family members, friends and family, and a day when farmers go to the temple to reward the gods for their harvest. There are also many good men and women who come to the temple to pray for marriage, courtship and blessing.

Many myths and fables about the Mid-Autumn Festival will be told to the children in the Mid-Autumn Festival every year. Of course, if the adults want it, they can listen. You may hear stories about the marriage of the sun and the moon and the stars are their children, as well as stories about the full moon's birth of a child into a new moon, and you will hear stories about the different versions. One of the embarrassing versions is that Wang is the king of the cruel emperor. The emperor intends to drink longevity water to get a long life, but in order to prevent the people from being oppressed for a long time, they drink longevity water and turn it into a fairy.

Unlike mainland China, it is not common for Taiwan to raise lanterns during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Because lanterns are usually displayed on the 15th of the first lunar month, travellers can still find other ways to celebrate, such as:

• Enjoy the moon. It is not necessary to sacrifice the moon to watch the moon's 'glory'. In Taipei, there are also some of the best places to enjoy the moon, such as the Danshui Fishing Pier and Daan Park, and there are Xiziwan or Tailing Wuling Farm outside Taipei. You will find that the moon is actually beautiful and worth watching, especially when the moon is closest to the earth, the moon is particularly large, or the blood-red moon of the total eclipse.
• Eating moon cakes, the custom that is necessary during the Mid-Autumn Festival, so that the Mid-Autumn Festival is also called the 'moon cake festival'. Mooncakes are always round like a moon, but the tastes are varied. The traditional tastes are the taste of suckling pigs and five kernels. Sometimes there are duck eggs or duck yellow in the mooncakes. In addition, you will find other more novelty mooncakes such as green tea or chocolate.
• Grill like a local. Many people will set up grills near the home, and some people go to the park to eat barbecue suckling pigs, grapefruit, moon cakes and other food.

If you travel during the Mid-Autumn Festival, you will find many exciting activities that you can participate in, so that you can learn more about Taiwan's unique culture.

Every year, the Mid-Autumn Festival will set off a "moon cake war." From the fight to the history to the taste, from the appearance of the fight to the packaging, "buy people do not eat, eat people do not buy" is becoming more and more normal. In the past few years, there have even been a variety of "functional moon cakes" and "healthy moon cakes" that claim to have health effects.

Moon cake, it can't be "healthy food"

People often say "healthy foods", but "healthy foods" do not have a legal or scientific definition. Because the nutrients needed by the human body are complex and diverse, it is impossible for any food to meet all the needs alone. Usually, people who meet the needs of the human body and have little influence on them are called "healthy foods." For example, vegetables can provide many vitamins, minerals, cellulose, antioxidants, and other nutrients that are easily lacking by modern people. The sugar, fat, etc., which are easily consumed by people, are relatively small, so they are regarded as " Healthy Food" . As for the so-called "junk food" - all kinds of instant foods, there are many nutrients that are easily left in modern people such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, and salt, and those that are easily lacking are lacking. Therefore, long-term use of these fast foods as the main food will cause excessive heat and imbalance of nutrition.

If you look at the same standards, moon cakes are really "unhealthy foods." Compared with fast food, its sugar content is even worse. The taste of the pasta itself is not superior. To make a "soft" moon cake, you need to add a lot of oil. Sugar, oil and flour are the basic ingredients of mooncakes. Mooncake filling also often contains a lot of sugar and oil. It can be said that moon cakes are more "high-calorie" than fast food, and the nutrients are more "single".

However, considering that mooncakes are just a kind of "cultural goods", it does not matter whether it is good or bad for health. Whether it is "healthy food" or "junk food", the health effects are reflected in the long-term, large-scale eating. Mooncakes, for most people, are just a ceremony for the Mid-Autumn Festival. The meaning of its existence is mainly the procedural needs of the cultural tradition, but not the "food" that meets the needs of the human body.

Moon cake is really an "unhealthy food" (Photo / Sina)

The "health effect" of moon cakes is purely flickering.

With the above-mentioned ideological foundation, we will look at those "functional moon cakes" and feel that there is no health value.

First of all, no matter what "health ingredients" are added to the functional moon cake, it is impossible to change the characteristics of the moon cake with high calorie and single nutrients. In most cases, the nutrients in food are simply superimposed. The kind of "harmful ingredients" becomes healthy by adding certain "health ingredients", but it is just a flicker in Jianghu Lang.

Secondly, the "health ingredients" that are added are also meaningless. For example, one of the "function moon cakes" is spirulina. Although spirulina contains more protein, some vitamins and minerals, and other ingredients needed by the human body, it does not have magical "efficacy". When it was discovered, it was only the wild vegetables used by the local poor to fill the hunger. Those so-called "beneficial ingredients" are found in ordinary foods. Moreover, the body's need for them is long-term and large. Spirulina merchants relish the high protein content of spirulina dry powder, but the human body needs dozens of grams of protein per day. The little bit of a moon cake is only symbolic.

Both the US Food and Drug Administration and the American Cancer Society believe that it is not a good source of protein considering the actual consumption of spirulina. The other "beneficial ingredients" are also roughly the same - if spirulina is like turnip greens It is a good wild vegetable that is eaten in large quantities as often. But expecting to eat a little "health products", its nutritional value can be neglected, not to mention the point added to the moon cake. Although the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization encourages the development of spirulina cultivation, it is positioned to “address the nutritional problems in poor areas”, “reducing the cost of aquaculture as a feed” and “as an emergency production measure after a flood hurricane attack”. Spirulina as a health care product has always been a flicker of business people.

Add spirulina health moon cake (Figure / Sina)

Other functional ingredients, such as American ginseng, abalone, shark's fin, etc., do not have decent scientific evidence to support those legendary functions. Adding mooncakes naturally does not have any extra magical effects.

So, can mooncakes still be eaten? Of course you can eat. As a ritual in Chinese traditional festivals, its cultural significance is enormous. Although it is not a healthy food, it is only eaten once a year on this particular day, and it does not matter whether it is "healthy" or "unhealthy".

What kind of moon cake is a good moon cake?

Since the "health function" is only a gimmick for business people to swindle money, it does not matter whether health is unhealthy. The remaining evaluation criteria are only "good" and "good-looking". "Good" is for yourself, "good-looking" is for others. Nowadays, when food is highly commercialized, "good" and "good-looking" can be exchanged for some money. If you look comfortable and have a good time, you can count it as a good moon cake.

It’s a good mooncake. (Figure / Sina)

Better moon cakes should also contain a strong "family", which can be said to be the greatest value of mooncakes as a stationery. When family reunion, sharing the moon cakes bought is a fun of family, but if you cook a moon cake, it is an unparalleled food for the whole family. For children, "my mooncakes baked by my grown-ups" must be more proud than "the mooncakes bought in the store."

The Mid-Autumn Festival is here, will you make moon cakes yourself? (Figure / Sina)