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Wee Kek Koon
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Wee Kek Koon

How Teochew mooncakes for Mid-Autumn Festival are a reminder of migration in Asia

Mid-Autumn Festival Teochew mooncakes remind us of a Chinese people who moved to Hong Kong and Southeast Asia, where a Teochew became king

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Teochew mooncakes. A popular Mid-Autumn Festival treat, they were brought to Hong Kong, along with other food items and their dialect, by Teochew (Chiu Chow) people from southeast China. Photo: Getty Images
Wee Kek Koon
Having lived his whole life in the modern cities of Singapore and Hong Kong, Wee Kek Koon has an inexplicable fascination with the past.

I recently came across a mooncake fair on the ground floor of a shopping mall. Feeling a bit peckish, I ventured in with the full knowledge that samples would be handed out by the vendors.

There were at least 50 stalls and maybe 10 times as many people in that space, but the air conditioning was strong and the mood was festive.

Shuffling through the crowd, I noticed that as well as the stodgy brown mooncakes that most of us grew up with, almost every other vendor was offering Teochew mooncakes – dome-shaped pastries with sweet fillings and flaky skins.
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Teochew mooncakes have always been around, of course, but it seems they are very popular this year, if this mooncake fair is anything to go by.

People sample mooncakes at a Hong Kong Mid-Autumn Festival food event. Photo: David Wong
People sample mooncakes at a Hong Kong Mid-Autumn Festival food event. Photo: David Wong

I sampled a tiny piece and it was delicious. I remembered my friend’s mother is of Teochew ancestry and she might like Teochew mooncakes. I made a mental note to go back to that stall as I continued exploring.

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