History: Upgraded

Yuebing jie (Mooncake festival), as I lovingly call it as opposed to the accurate Zhongqiu Jie (Mid-Autumn Festival), brings back the fondest memories for me. From gathering at my gran’s place and lighting up the garden with pretty paper lanterns, to the walk my cousins and I would make around the neighbourhood with our lanterns. The classic moment had to be when my sis- who was more concerned in keeping the flame in the lantern alive then watching where she was walking , walked straight into a tree. Though it happened a good decade ago, none of us refuse to forget that moment (much to her chagrin of course).

What I guess is intriguing about Yuebing jie, is that we are celebrating the success of a revolution, a rebellion. We are in an age where rebellion is almost deemed as taboo, so having a festival that commemorates it seems like a nouveau concept.

But of course, it is designed to make us think that the rebellion was for the greater good and since victors (the rebels) write history, it really is anyone’s say. So, according to the stuff we learnt in Chinese textbooks, secret messages were actually baked within the skin of the mooncakes and passed around to avoid arousing suspicion from authorities. Completely ingenious really, and thank god there was no such thing as modern day custom officials (between the provincial cities) or specially trained dogs to sniff out pseudo mooncakes from the real deal.

I’ve always been a fan of the traditionally baked brown-skinned goodness (singleyolkonlyplease), and I always found the more modern versions of the snow-skinned ones too much of a OD of artificial flavours and colours. With everybody wanting a piece of the (yuebing) pie, everyone was suddenly inventing new flavours like champagne something or truffle something. True, they were pretty and exquisite- but taste-wise, something always seemed to be a little off. And just when I was about to give up on the chase for a good snow-skinned yum, I tried the Mandarin Oriental selection. No, they did not pay me to say this, but for the first time, I actually really really felt that maybe it was time to embrace the ‘other’ mooncake. The Black Gold Premium Chocolate was perfection really; and the Ginseng, Premium Bird’s Nest and Omega Egg White Custard (despite the complexity of flavour and its really long name) actually WORKED.

Brown- skinned goodness: 0
Snow Skinned New found love: 1

I cannot help but emphasize that I am not a fan of anything that sounds overly modern or extravagant, especially when we are celebrating something as serious as a rebellion, but this combination really worked out. And, we are celebrating a success (of sorts), aren't we?