Historical sites like Atlas Obscura say mooncakes are to Asians what Christmas fruitcakes are to Western cultures. And similar to Western attitudes to fruitcake, food blogger Suzanne Nuyen told Today, "I feel like mooncakes are a very polarizing food. You either love them or you hate them." No surprises, then, that The Standard says that the people of Hong Kong chose to throw out 2.88 million mooncakes in 2020 simply because they didn't like them. It doesn't help that thanks to its high fat and sugar content, a traditional mooncake can have a minimum of 716 calories, per The Straits Times.
Even though they can be made at home, with sites like Catherine Zhang providing recipes and tips, most mooncakes are purchased from bakeries that specialize in making them, simply because they can be time-consuming to make from scratch. One baker even told Today it could take up to eight hours to make a single batch.
Travel China Guide says mooncakes first made an appearance about 3,000 years ago, and for a time, they were meant to be used as an offering to mark the Mid-Autumn Festival. The actual practice of eating mooncakes didn't come about until the Tang Dynasty, which ruled China between 618 to 907 AD, and it didn't become common practice until late Yuan Dynasty, which lasted from 1271 to 1368 AD.
What Are Mooncakes And When Do You Eat Them - Tasting Table
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