Discuss

1. What kind of food did you eat when you were a child? Do you eat the same
things now?

2. What is your favourite food? What is in it?

3. What special foods do you eat on holidays? (Christmas, New Year’s Day,
etc.)
Mooncakes
Match the words with theirs definitions
1. sip (v) a. salty or spicy and not sweet in taste

2. harvest (n) b. a shaped container into which you pour a liquid that then becomes solid in the shape of
the container

3. reunion (n) c. a light inside a container that has a handle for holding it or hanging it up

4. harmony (n) d. to drink, taking only a very small amount at a time

5. mould (n) e. a situation when people meet again after they have not seen each other for a long time

6. lantern (n) f. one of the foods or liquids that you use in making a particular meal
Mix all the ingredients together and place them in a shallow dish.

7. savory (n) g. the time of year when crops are cut and collected from the fields

8. paste (n) h. agreement of ideas, feelings, or actions, or a pleasing combination of different parts

9. ingredient (n) i. a small round green bean, usually used for producing a bean sprout

10. mung bean (n) j. a thick soft substance made by crushing and mixing things such as fish, fruit, or
vegetables for food
Read the text and decide whether the statements below are True (T) or
False (F).
1. Two essential parts of Mid-Autumn Festival are tea and mooncakes.

2. “Bánh nướng” is snowskin cake and “bánh dẻo” is flaky crust cake.

3. People know exactly when mooncakes first appeared in Vietnam

4. Lanterns and lion dance are what children looking forward to.

5. The Earth is shown in round mooncakes.

6. Savory mixed filling has 10 ingredients.

7. Nowadays there are only two flavors of mooncakes to choose.

8. Teas with flower are best with savory mooncakes.

In Vietnam, nibbling on mooncakes and sipping tea with loved ones are important parts of the
Mid-autumn Festival, or Tết Trung Thu. As long as we can remember, it’s tradition to serve “bánh nướng” and
“bánh dẻo” — flaky crust mooncakes and snow skin mooncakes — in the night of the harvest moon.
The story of mooncakes
The word ‘mooncake’ first appeared during the reign of China’s Song Dynasty, from 1127 - 1279. Though nobody
knows exactly when mooncakes first came to Vietnam, over hundreds of years Vietnamese food has often been
influenced by Chinese traditions. In Vietnam, Tết Trung Thu was seen as a special time for reunion and harmony.
Once a year, after a fruitful harvest, families and relatives would gather to relax, sing songs and drink tea under
the light of the full moon. Children would look forward to staying up late, carrying star lanterns in the dark, and
listening for the drums of lion dancers. Square mooncakes representing the earth and round mooncakes
representing the sky were the perfect treat on this magical night.
Old and new flavours
Long ago there were only two types of mooncakes in Vietnam. Savory mixed paste mooncakes were made of up
to 10 ingredients, including lime leaves, smoked sausage, lotus seeds and a secret sauce or wine. Mixed paste
mooncakes would be made in square moulds and baked in the oven. These cakes would be offered on family
altars and shared at home. The round mung bean mooncakes were made with sticky rice flour to be eaten fresh.
These days, you’ll have many more than two mooncake flavours to choose from. Traditional bakeries normally
use ingredients such as lotus seed, coconut meat, black sesame, nuts and young rice to make large mooncakes
for everyone to share.
TIP: Because mooncakes are very rich, they pair perfectly with hot green tea. Oolong tea is best for
savory mooncakes, while floral teas go nicely with sweet mooncakes.
Discuss

1. Do you like mooncakes?

2. Which flavor is your favorite?

3. How do you usually celebrate Mid-Autumn festival? Do you still keep the tradition?

4. How mooncakes are different from those in the past?

Present
Describe Mid-Autumn Festival
- When does the festival happens?
- How do you celebrate it?
- Is it an important festival? Why/ Why not?
- What is its meaning?

Describe Food tradition in Mid-Autumn Festival

- What food do you have in Mid-Autumn Festival?
- What are the ingredients?
- How can you cook it?
- What are the tastes?