Giant Mooncake for the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival

As if giant hot pots aren’t good enough, the Chinese have done it again - this time with a giant moon cake! This one is on display at a food market in Shenyang, Northeast China’s Liaoning Province.

The enormous mooncake weighs 12.9 tons and measures 8.1 metres in diameter. The moon cake is a traditional Chinese food that people enjoy on the Mid-Autumn Festival (the 15th day of the eighth month in lunar calendar), which falls on the 25th September this year.

Technorati Tags: China, cuisine, culture, Mid-Autumn Festival, moon cake

Here’s a pic (via ChinaPictures.org) of some normal sized moon cakes, which measure about 3 inches across.

Moon cakes contain a filling made up of Lotus Seed paste or Sweet bean paste. They’re not cheap to buy (though prices vary per brand), but as they last for a few weeks, you can wait until the very last moment (towards the end of the day of celebration in Chinatown) before purchasing. The sellers are then keen to shift the stock and so discount them massively.

More on ChinaDaily

Via the British Chinese blog