Beyond mooncakes: eating your way through the Mid-Autumn Festival
The Mid-Autumn Festival, celebrated across East and Southeast Asia, is one of the region’s most cherished holidays. Families gather under the full moon, lanterns glow in courtyards and offerings are laid out to honour the harvest and celebrate reunion. And, of course, there are mooncakes—those glossy pastries that have become the festival’s universal symbol.
But while mooncakes may command the spotlight, they’re hardly the whole story. If you zoom out beyond Hong Kong’s gift boxes and Instagram-worthy mooncakes, you’ll find a constellation of other foods: some sweet, some savoury, all deeply symbolic. From smoky Taiwanese barbecues to pine-scented rice cakes in Korea, these dishes play a crucial supporting role to the mooncake, each telling its own story of luck, family, and festivity, making the Mid-Autumn table as varied as the cultures that celebrate it.
In case you missed it: Mooncakes 101: The history, cultural significance, and meaning behind the traditional pastry
China: pomelos and taro traditions
The Cantonese word for “pomelo” (柚, yòu) sounds like “bless” (佑), making them lucky gifts. (Photo: Georgia de Lotz/Unsplash)
Even in China, mooncakes aren’t the only edible tradition during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Pomelos are a hit during this season. Big, green and a little clumsy-looking, pomelos are the grapefruit’s sweeter, less aggressive cousin. In Cantonese, “pomelo” (柚, yòu) sounds like “bless” (佑), making them lucky gifts. Families peel them during the festival, the thick rind spiralling away like the moon shedding her clouds. Bonus: in some homes in southern China, kids wear the rinds as silly hats to “ward off evil.”
Meanwhile, in Fujian and Chaoshan, taro appears on the table because its name in local dialects is a homonym for “good luck in the coming year.” It’s steamed, stir-fried or mashed into sticky-sweet or savoury dishes—comfort food with a fortune-cookie heart.
Taiwan: barbecue under the moon
The smell of barbecued meat and seafood fills the air in Taiwan during the Mid-Autumn festival (Photo: Markus Winkler / Pexels)
Taiwan rewrote tradition in the 1980s when a soy sauce company ran an ad campaign declaring that the “right” way to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival was with a barbecue. The idea stuck. Every September, the smell of grilled meat wafts across Taipei and Kaohsiung, and sidewalks transform into barbecue alleys.
What began as marketing alchemy is now a beloved national pastime. Expect grilled squid skewers, Taiwanese sausages glazed in honey-garlic sauce and plates of sliced pomelo to cool things down. The mooncake may hold centuries of history, but the barbecue has smoke, laughter and cold beer.
See more: 5 mooncake facts you probably haven’t heard of
Vietnam: lanterns, mooncakes and green rice
In Vietnam, Tết Trung Thu is as much for children as it is for the harvest. While mooncakes (bánh trung thu) remain the centrepiece, stalls also sell bánh nướng (baked mooncakes) and bánh dẻo (soft, glutinous cakes dusted with flour). Another seasonal favourite is green rice (cốm), young rice kernels lightly roasted and wrapped in lotus leaves, eaten by the handful or pressed into cakes with coconut.
For offerings, locals arrange colourful fruit pyramids of persimmons, bananas and other seasonal produce. Once the lion dance parade ends, the fruits are happily devoured in the festive chaos.
Korea: songpyeon rice cakes and family feasts
In Korea, the Mid-Autumn Festival is called Chuseok, and the dish of choice is songpyeon—half-moon rice cakes filled with sweetened sesame, chestnut or red bean paste. Steamed over pine needles, they carry a fresh, resinous aroma that signals autumn as clearly as pumpkin spice does in the US.
The shape is significant. Half-moons symbolise growth and promise, not completion. Songpyeon is also one of the few holiday foods that families still make together at home, often in the days leading up to Chuseok, when everyone returns to their ancestral villages for a marathon of feasting, memorial rites and makgeolli.
Thailand: tropical fruit and colourful buns
In Thailand, the Chinese diaspora keeps mooncakes firmly on the table, but tropical abundance adds a local twist. Seasonal mango and durian often sneak into fillings, while fruit platters double as moon offerings. Think carved dragon fruit, longan and mangosteen arranged like edible fireworks.
In Bangkok’s Chinatown, vendors sell salapao, steamed buns dyed with natural colours and stamped with golden moon motifs, interpreting Chinese tradition with Thai flair.
Bonus: how Hong Kong celebrates the Mid-Autumn festival
Hong Kong is arguably the global epicentre of Mid-Autumn festival celebrations—it’s a full-on city takeover with lantern decor on the waterfront promenades, fire dragon dances, moon-gazing and mooncake indulgence. For locals, it’s both a family holiday and a cultural showcase; for visitors, it’s one of the best times to see the city at its most vibrant.
Lantern displays and carnivals: Victoria Park’s Mid-Autumn Lantern Carnival is the biggest draw, with towering themed lanterns and cultural performances. For something chic and Instagram-ready, Lee Tung Avenue in Wan Chai strings a glowing canopy of lanterns across its 200-metre walkway. Shoppers usually head to Fuk Wing Street in Sham Shui Po or Tai Kiu Market in Yuen Long for classic paper lanterns, or browse Tai Yuen Street in Wan Chai for quirky, kid-friendly designs.
The Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance: This is Hong Kong’s most spectacular ritual, where a 67-metre incense-studded dragon—carried by some 300 performers—winds through Tai Hang’s narrow streets for three nights of smoke, drumbeats and an electric street-party atmosphere. Spectators should arrive early to secure a good viewing spot.
Best spots for moon-viewing: For city panoramas, Victoria Harbour’s waterfront promenades (Tsim Sha Tsui East or Central Harbourfront) are unbeatable. Islands like Cheung Chau or Lamma offer a quieter experience; meanwhile, a harbour cruise allows viewing the moonrise over the skyline.
What to eat in Hong Kong: Beyond traditional lotus seed and double-yolk mooncakes, Hong Kong bakeries have perfected modern twists. Try snow-skin mooncakes in flavours like champagne truffle, matcha or custard, alongside flaky savoury pastries and traditional fruits like pomelos, pomegranates and star fruit—fruits believed to bring protection and luck during the festival.
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