It's china's Mid-Autumn Festival today, and as the traditional food of this day, mooncakes are becoming brick sales around New York city, Karina Huber has the story.

It's china's Mid-Autumn Festival today, and as the traditional food of this day, mooncakes are becoming brick sales around US.

In New York City's Chinatown there's no shortage of bakeries selling moon cakes to celebrate China's Mid-Autumn Festival. The Tai Pan Bakery makes chilled moon cakes stuffed with mango or durian. A favorite among foodies is the Chiu Hong Bakery that has a reputation for making the city's best moon cakes.

"My whole family is a big fan of Chiu Hong Bakery, which I think has the most traditional," a local said.

Wellington Chen, Executive Director of the Chinatown Partnership, says New York City's multi-cultural heritage has created a boom in fusion moon cakes.

"The variety has really mushroomed into different skins, different fillings. They could be the traditional lotus seeds or the egg yolk or now you have other ingredients," Wellington Chen said.

Other ingredients that include green tea and ice cream.

Even the world famous Haagen-Dazs has gotten into the moon cake craze. Since 1997 it has featured it's own moon cakes that are anything but traditional.

Their ice cream moon cakes are covered in white, milk or dark chocolate and they also have a yolk. But it's not a duck egg yolk. It's mango sorbet. Moon cakes are a relatively novel discovery for non-Chinese Americans, but Chinatown bakers say Caucasians are developing a taste for the sweet confections.

"They start to know what moon cake is," Owner Frederick Shao said.

Frederick Shao, the manager of the Pie Pie Q Café, says he noticed an uptick in business from non-Chinese buyers about two years ago.

"They looking for healthy stuff, so we try to decrease all the oils...We try to make sure everything is good for their body," Frederick Shao said.

They tend to steer clear of the lotus fillings and prefer the black bean filling. In a few days' time, the streets of Chinatown will be filled with Chinese and non-Chinese residents alike-feasting on moon cakes.

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)