Food

The bakers keeping traditional mooncake making alive in Hong Kong for Mid-Autumn Festival

A treat families once took a year to pay for, mooncakes of every flavour are ubiquitous now. Some are still made fresh the old-fashioned way.

Take a bite out of history with our exclusive series on the delicious ingredients, dishes and techniques behind the unique tastes of Hong Kong. Snow skin, durian, ice cream, even Chinese ham – no matter what your preference, there is likely a mooncake out there for you. Traditionally eaten relatively fresh, mooncakes are big business.

In 2023, Hong Kong charity Food Grace estimated that households in Hong Kong planned to buy, on average, 1.8 boxes of mooncakes; that amounts to about five million boxes a year. This has led to the mass manufacturing of the seasonal treats, some of them sourced from outside Hong Kong to meet demand.

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