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For many centuries the Chinese have marked special
occasions and festivals, such
as Harvest and New Year, with the giving and receiving
of Moon Cakes.
During the 13th and 14th centuries, when China
was occupied by the Mongols,
these Lotus Nut Paste Moon Cakes were used to
hide messages informing of the
date for an uprising against the invaders. As
the Mongols had no taste for Lotus Nut
Paste, they were considered the perfect hiding
place and the Chinese hid the
message containing the date in the middle of their
Moon Cakes to replace the yolk.
Then a patriotic revolutionary, Chu Yhan Chang,
took on the disguise of a Taoist
priest and entered occupied walled cities handing
out the Moon Cakes. The
uprising was successful and so the basis of
the Ming Dynasty was formed.
The transition from Moon Cakes to modern day fortune
cookies started during
the hard days of the American Gold Rush. Chinese
men and women were employed
to build the great American railways through the
Sierra Nevada to California. As
they didn't have traditional Cakes to exchange at
the Moon Festival, they instead
put happy messages inside biscuits and thus the
Fortune Cookie was born.
A cottage industry then
emerged when the Chinese settled in San Francisco
and the custom continued with cookies being
made by hand until 1964 when first
automated production began.
Cookies are an ideal
way to celebrate any occasion. The perfect
finish to your
Dinner
Party (and much lighter on the hips than
your usual after dinner mint) - an
intriguing end to any evening.
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