In Vancouver, mooncakes are made to celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival
Local bakeries have fresh takes on the traditional East Asian delicacies to mark the harvest moon on October 1
Soirette’s Over the Moon collection for Mid-Autumn Festival 2020 consists of eight unique mooncakes. Photo by Soirette
HAVING GROWN UP in Ipoh, Malaysia, Shobna Kannusamy remembers celebrating Mid-Autumn Festival, gathering with friends and walking the streets after the sun had set, carrying beautiful candlelit lanterns made out of coloured cellophane. Hers was always in the shape of a goldfish. They would stop in at neighbours’ homes to indulge in mooncakes—small round cakes that symbolize family reunions and good wishes, often decorated with Chinese characters of longevity and filled with red-bean paste, salted egg yolks, nuts, fruit, or lotus-seed paste.
“It was very special as we were rarely allowed to go out after dark,” recalls Kannusamy, owner and pastry chef of Soirette, a jewel box of a bakery in Coal Harbour. “Family members would enjoy mooncakes after a big dinner. Each mooncake is cut into several pieces, and because they are generally rich, they’re paired with light teas.
Soirette’s large floral mooncake symbolizes prosperity, love, joy, and longevity. Photo by Soirette
“Mooncakes represent family unity and celebrating what is said to be the fullest moon of the year, and they symbolize an offering to the moon in hopes of a bountiful harvest,” she says. “Mooncakes signify love and connection between family members, as it is a delicacy that’s shared and enjoyed among all generations.”
Celebrated across East Asia, in countries including China, Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia, Vietnam, and the Philippines, Mid-Autumn Festival takes place on the 15th day of the eighth month in the lunar calendar during a full moon. This year, it falls on October 1. It’s a time for family gatherings; the moon is the fullest and brightest on this day, and moon’s round shape signifies reunion. Some people compare the fest to North American Thanksgiving.
Despite the pandemic meaning Mid-Autumn Festival gatherings will be smaller or held virtually this year, some local bakeries are busy making the treats to be on so many families’ tables.
“Due to all the challenges we continue to face, we were almost not going to produce any mooncakes this year,” says Kannusamy, who fell in love with baking while completing an engineering degree and who trained at Le Cordon Bleu Ottawa Culinary Arts Institute. “However, we received so many inspiring stories about how our mooncakes have brought wonderful and meaningful memories for our customers' families that we were determined to continue with our tradition of making them this year.”
At Soirette, Kannusamy makes snowskin mooncakes, which have an outer layer wrapper made of cooked glutinous rice flour. (Also known as ice-skin mooncake, this type is unbaked and often compared to Japanese mochi.)
She makes everything from scratch, even lotus paste—a labour of love—and infuses the cakes with Malaysian flavours, all of her childhood favourites: kaya toast; durian ganache and gula melaka lotus paste; and salted duck egg cookie with curry leaf. This year’s Over the Moon collection of eight unique mooncakes also includes hojicha macchiato, double black sesame, pineapple jam and lime leaf, chardonnay with oolong tea, and Vancouver fog. (Soirette is open for takeout Tuesday to Saturday from 10 am to 4 pm with full COVID-19 protocols in place; it’s fully operational online and has delivery service to parts of Metro Vancouver.)
Saint Germain Bakery is making freshly baked mooncakes for Mid-Autumn Festival 2020. Photo by Alex Ma
Early memories of mooncakes and tropical fruit
Alex Ma, marketing manager at Saint Germain Bakery, came to Vancouver with his family at age 11 in 1996 from Hong Kong. He remembers celebrating Mid-Autumn Festival as a child with mooncakes, seasonal fruit, and loved ones.
“My earliest memories of mooncakes are when we would have them with star fruits and pomelos as desserts after a big family meal,” Ma tells Stir. “Us kids would be playing with lanterns and candles in the backyard while the adults would chitchat over mooncakes and fruit and look at the beauty of the full moon.
“To me, mooncakes are a celebratory food for a good harvest year, or just a good year,” Ma says. “The shape of the traditional mooncake and the salted egg yolks inside mimic the full moon. And we have a greeting phrase, 人月兩團圓, which roughly translates to ‘Wishing that you’ll have a good time gathering with all your family and your loved ones, as complete as the moon.’”
New this year to Saint Germain Bakery (which has multiple locations in Metro Vancouver as well as in Ontario) are mooncakes with a filling of lava salted egg yolk custard—freshly baked, a first in Canada, Ma says.
“Traditional mooncakes are made weeks in advance and they are usually made to last for up to a month, but these fresh mooncakes are baked daily and must be enjoyed within three days,” Ma says. “They’re even better if you can pop them into the oven at 350F for a few minutes to reheat them before eating.
“Part of the reason why my boss had come up with these new freshly baked mooncakes, besides wanting to educate our customers on new ways to enjoy mooncakes, is also because 2020 is an especially tough year for the industry due to COVID, and he really wishes that customers will support local business with products that are made proudly in Canada, as opposed to the many different imported mooncake brands that are available at Asian grocery stores.”
Other mooncake varieties at Saint Germain Bakery are date paste with nuts and lotus-seed paste with whole salted egg yolks. Products are all individually packed, with social distancing measures inside its shops and staff wearing masks and gloves at all times.
As for this year’s Mid-Autumn Festival, Ma is all set.
“I’ll be celebrating with my family over dinner and mooncakes,” Ma says. “Food has a significant role in our culture. We love food. We see feasting together as an important part of any celebration.”
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