I realized that as I aged, I don't really fancy mooncakes anymore. But when they are in every colour, shape, size and flavour bombarding your every space, sight and smell, it's really hard to avoid this interesting Chinese tradition.
The mooncake has always amazed me. It's nothing like that Western fluffy cakes we are used to. Its just a lump of lotus paste , or variations with recent funky creations, wrapped around a baked pastry skin, or an elastic snowy smooth and soft skin - with the occasional egg yolk or truffle surprise within to tease the senses further.
But the regular, or novelty mooncake, has probably out lived several a traditions and fads - bubble tea, gelato, doughnuts...
Raffles the Plaza MoonCakes - Champagne Truffle, Baileys with chocolate truffle, Rum and Raisn and Lychee, Almond and chocolate
So what makes the mooncake so desirable then? That every year, people flock to Takashimaya or Chinatown, to brave the maddening crowds and frightening queues, just to snag boxes up boxes of mooncakes? Even credit cards, hotel chains and ice cream giants have jumped onto this bang-wagon, offering discount packages, chef specials and intriguing flavour mooncakes to win the hearts of the most customers every year. I propose 3 possible reasons:
#1 Like CNY, tis the Cheenah season to be enjoyed only once a year.
Like everything else, the theory of marginal utilities applies. When fads hit, they hit with a vengeance and give people no room to breathe in between. So after the 10th doughnut, you kind of hit your maximum overload. Demand falls, nausea sets in and the queues deplete. Chains close and franchises become part of history.
But wisely set only 1 month for these little mooncakes to be available, and suddenly, its a roaring trade idea. Offer novelty and 'Bam' you are secured your truckload of money.
#2 We are Chinese, we still fall back on tea to feel good.
Every Singaporean overeats, we enjoy the occasional binge from time to time. And more often then not, our wardrobes are stuffed with clothes we could only button completely a month ago. So we deceive ourselves into drinking tea. We are a diuretic-beverage consuming nation, we manifest on tea, coffee but when we are digesting, we lean towards tea, to comfort ourselves that we are soothing the stomach.
But like every habitual Singaporean, we got to have something with the tea. We love our mooncakes with tea. Chinese, fruit, floral, herbal, green...whatever form and types they come in, with nutritional value or without, we love our teas and inevitably look for the suitable snack to enjoy it with.
Don't believe me, count the number of mooncake booths and set ups that don't have at least a tea promotion counter included - they are probably the ice-cream mooncakes.
#3 We are Asian, we thrive on being labeled filial.
We like to be called filial. That's suppose to be one of our purported values. That's why we can't move our before we turn 35 and are expected to repay our parents for our education.
So any occasion that celebrates no reason to buy cakes to pay respects to the elderly, it's a good business. It's like the 'bak-kuah' to CNY, the 'log-cake' or 'present' for Christmas, it's another good and convenient way to display filial piety.
For girlfriends and boyfriends, husbands and wives, good time to score points too. Time to hunt down the best mooncakes and fragrant tea and become the top favourite.
So since the reasons beckon, I'll be stuffing myself with all types of mooncakes and some will probably find their way into a post or two here. =)
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