Mooncake

Mooncake (Chinese: 月饼, pinyin: yuè bǐng), also known as moon dough, harvest cake, and reunion cake, is one of the traditional Han Chinese delicacies. Mooncakes were originally used as offerings to worship the moon god.
Moon worship is a very ancient custom in China, which is actually a kind of worship activity of the ancient people to the "moon god". Eating mooncakes and enjoying the moon at Mid-Autumn Festival is an indispensable custom of Mid-Autumn Festival in all parts of China. Mooncake symbolizes the reunion, people take it as holiday food, use it to worship the moon, gifts to friends and relatives. 
Mooncakes have a long history as offerings to the moon god. The term "mooncake" was first used in existing literature in the Southern Song Dynasty in Wu Zimu's Mengliang Lu (梦梁錄), a book about mooncakes. Mooncakes have been blended with local dietary customs to develop Cantonese, Jin, Beijing, Suzhou, Chao, and Dian styles of mooncakes, which have been enjoyed by people in all parts of North and South China.
Category:Chinese Food Glossary