The Mid-autumn Festival is an important holiday for Chinese people and I would like to discuss the meal on the Mid-autumn Festival in my family. The festival is celebrated on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese lunar calendar. Traditionally, the meal is used to celebrate harvest because many crops, such as corn, sweet potatoes, rice, beans, and peanut, are harvested in autumn. Today, more and more people do not plant crops and the meal is gradually becoming a get-together meal for family members. Sometimes, the ritual meal is held in my family in Shenzhen and sometimes we go back to my grandparents’ home in Xinjiang Province to celebrate it. Generally, it is a special meal combining Chinese customs and the characteristics of Hui
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However, we do not so much time to make them today and we usually buy moon cakes in the supermarket. It usually takes much time to prepare a meal of “Nine Bowls and Three Lines”, as the meat balls are all made by my mother, grandmother, and aunts instead of bought outside. My parents, my uncles and aunts all live in other provinces. Before we come to my grandparents’ home, my grandparents prepare all the ingredients in advance. On Mid-Autumn Festival, my grandmother makes the menu for the meal. Generally, women do the cooking, serving, and cleaning in my family. My mother is a good cook and she usually cooks the main meat dishes, such as boiled beef and steamed lamb. One of my aunts is an expert in making beef balls. The beef balls she makes are soft but chewy, which is better that those sold in the supermarket. My grandmother cooks the staple for that day, such as steamed twisted roll and steamed bread. She usually leavens dough a day before the Mid-Autumn Festival. When I was little, my grandmother usually makes animal-shaped steamed bread for me. My younger and elder sisters help them clean the ingredients. After we have the meal, women also clean the table and wash the dishes. As a male, I seldom help them do the cooking and cleaning, but I do the serving occasionally. Men often chat and drink tea in the living room and wait for
However, we do not so much time to make them today and we usually buy moon cakes in the supermarket. It usually takes much time to prepare a meal of “Nine Bowls and Three Lines”, as the meat balls are all made by my mother, grandmother, and aunts instead of bought outside. My parents, my uncles and aunts all live in other provinces. Before we come to my grandparents’ home, my grandparents prepare all the ingredients in advance. On Mid-Autumn Festival, my grandmother makes the menu for the meal. Generally, women do the cooking, serving, and cleaning in my family. My mother is a good cook and she usually cooks the main meat dishes, such as boiled beef and steamed lamb. One of my aunts is an expert in making beef balls. The beef balls she makes are soft but chewy, which is better that those sold in the supermarket. My grandmother cooks the staple for that day, such as steamed twisted roll and steamed bread. She usually leavens dough a day before the Mid-Autumn Festival. When I was little, my grandmother usually makes animal-shaped steamed bread for me. My younger and elder sisters help them clean the ingredients. After we have the meal, women also clean the table and wash the dishes. As a male, I seldom help them do the cooking and cleaning, but I do the serving occasionally. Men often chat and drink tea in the living room and wait for