This time each year, Chinese bakeries across Los Angeles are flooded with customers searching for mooncakes. The dense, decadent confections are traditionally eaten to celebrate the annual Mid-Autumn Festival, one of the most important holidays in Chinese culture. This year, the holiday falls on September 29.
The history of these pastries is just as rich as their flavor, says Rachel Lo, an LA-based baker and chef.
“The widely accepted story is that about 1000 years ago, there was a political uprising against the Mongol Empire in China. And because people couldn't speak to each other under that rule, they hid messages inside of the mooncakes and distributed them. The messages said, ‘We're going to have an uprising on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month.’ [That] corresponds with the Mid-Autumn Festival now,” she explains.
Mooncakes are marked with intricate designs, which commonly include floral motifs or Chinese characters. Photo by Zoie Matthew.
These days, mooncakes aren’t used quite the same way. Instead, they’ve come to represent unity, and are often shared among families or offered as a gift to bosses and respected colleagues during the holiday season.
Whether you’re craving the traditional version filled with lotus paste and salted egg yolk, or more modern interpretations featuring ingredients like matcha and chocolate, there are plenty of great places to find mooncakes around LA. Here are a few of Lo’s favorite places to stock up:
Little Swan Bakery
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This tiny bakery in Alhambra makes its own mooncakes in-house, which Lo says is something of a rarity, because of the complexity of the baking process. She recommends snagging the classic lotus paste and salted egg yolk flavor here.
Kee Wah Bakery
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Kee Wah is a popular Chinese bakery chain with multiple locations throughout the LA area. They sell a wide variety of mooncakes year-round, offering both the classics and custard, fruit, and chocolate-filled varieties. During the Mid-Autumn Festival, they also offer festive boxes and merchandise.
Costco
If you don’t live near one of these bakeries, no worries. Lo says you can even get some quality mooncakes at your local Costco this time of year. She recommends reaching for the Joy Luck Palace variety.