FPC celebrates Chinese Moon Festival with Sunnyfield

The Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival (Chung Chiu) also known as the Moon Festival or Zhongqui Festival is a popular lunar harvest festival celebrated by Chinese and Vietnamese people. Held on the 15th day of 8th month of the Chinese calendar which is in September or early October in the Gregorian calendar, close to the autumnal equinox. The moon plays a significant part in this celebration and in China people climb mountains and fill open spaces to view new moon - mythology features the old man in the moon (Yueh Lao Yeh) who decides everyone's romantic partner. Quantities of fresh fruit are consumed in particular star fruit which is in season at festival time.

We were both honoured and delighted to join the celebrations with Ronny and Sue Liu (picured below) and their staff and friends at Sunnyfield in Spitalfields (Sunnyfield Veg Ltd - Bulletin)

Chinese hospitality is impressive and we had a wonderful time with old and new friends including Tim Williams, BDM at Spitalfields, (pictured left). In addition to Sue's infamous cooking, we were introduced to moon cakes and the story behind them which is a fascinating take on the 'Trojan Horse'!

If you share our fascination for Chinese culture you will be interested to know that this festival is also known as the Moon Cake Festival due to the traditional delicacy of a special kind of sweet cake in the shape of a moon, a custom traced back to the 14th Century when China was in revolt against the Mongols. Moon cakes were involved in a battle plan to take a walled city where a certain Liu Po-wen dressed as a Taoist priest and entered the besieged city just before the Chung Chiu festival, bearing moon cakes which he distributed to the city's populace. On the day of the festival people found messages hidden in the cakes, detailing the battle plan and the city was taken with Liu becoming Emperor. The cakes are stamped with images of Chang-O, the mythical first lady on the moon and the helpful Jade Hare who hold legendary importance and so the stories go on handed down through the generations.

Ronny and Sue run two outstanding wholesale/food service businesses, Sunnyfield and Cooks Delights - their passion for good food was self evident at this great celebration, the quality of the produce was outstanding and we wish them continued success and look forward to working with them in the coming months.