Besides mooncakes, what else do people eat during the Mid-Autumn Festival?

Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Reunion Festival, is a day for families to gather together. It's a day of childhood memories with indispensable dishes that grandparents and parents have prepared for you. Besides mooncakes, there are many other special traditional dishes reserved for this occasion.

Join Travellive as we revisit the indispensable dishes of the Mid-Autumn Festival, dishes that have stood the test of time in the hearts of every Vietnamese person.

Sticky rice with green rice flakes

A familiar and indispensable dish for people in Northern Vietnam during the Mid-Autumn Festival is sticky rice with young rice flakes. This is also considered a traditional dish that you shouldn't miss if you have the chance to visit Hanoi this autumn.

Sticky rice with young green rice flakes is made with three main ingredients: mung beans, young green rice flakes, and grated coconut. After being seasoned with a little white sugar, the grated coconut is stir-fried over low heat. The mung beans are soaked for about half a day, then steamed until cooked and mashed. Finally, young green rice flakes are added and mixed well to create the complete sticky rice dish with a subtle, delicate aroma.

Although green rice flakes are less commonly consumed in the South, in the North, this dish is a famous and distinctive part of the Mid-Autumn Festival, no less popular than mooncakes.

Dishes made from lotus root

Lotus root is a characteristic autumn ingredient for the Mid-Autumn Festival. Furthermore, lotus root symbolizes good fortune; eating lotus root during this time signifies family reunion. Mixing lotus root and osmanthus flowers into dishes creates a new, appealing, and much more delicious flavor. You can add lotus root and osmanthus flowers to sticky rice; the aroma of the glutinous rice combined with the fragrance of lotus root and osmanthus flowers enhances the rich flavor of the rice, making the family reunion even more heartwarming.

In addition, lotus root can be used to prepare many different dishes according to personal preference, such as lotus root salad, lotus root soup, or stir-fried lotus root with shrimp and meat... During the Mid-Autumn Festival, most families usually prepare lotus root salad with shrimp and meat because it is simple to make and the flavor is incredibly appealing.

Pomelo salad

Besides dishes made from young rice flakes, the Mid-Autumn Festival feast cannot be without refreshing dishes made from pomelo. Not only is it easy to eat, but pomelo salad also symbolizes reunion, evoking the wish for the whole family to gather together on the full moon of the eighth lunar month.

The tangy flavor of pomelo combined with the fresh taste of seafood like shrimp and squid creates a very appealing dish. You can also prepare a vegetarian pomelo salad with accompanying ingredients such as vegetables, mushrooms, and a sweet and sour dressing to complete an appetizer for the whole family.

Floating rice ball dessert

Che troi nuoc, also known as Che Doan Vien, is a familiar dish during the Mid-Autumn Festival. This dessert symbolizes togetherness and family reunion.

Floating rice balls (Chè trôi nước), with their smooth, subtly sweet outer layer combined with the sweet syrup, fragrant coconut milk, and spicy ginger, symbolize the warm and tender feelings of family. After a meal, enjoying a bowl of floating rice balls as a dessert with loved ones gathered around to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival is simply wonderful.

Snail dish

Traditionally, snails are also an indispensable dish during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Snails in autumn are usually large, firm, and delicious, so people believe that eating them at this time is good for health, especially the eyes. Besides their special meaning, snails are usually very tasty at this time because they are not reproducing, so their shells are empty and they have a lot of meat.

In addition, people in the past believed that eating snails in the autumn could improve eyesight because snails contain a lot of vitamin A, which is beneficial for the eyes.

Phuong Thao is an editor at Travellive magazine. She is passionate about traveling and enjoys capturing moments with her camera in every place she visits. Travel, art, and lifestyle are Phuong Thao's favorite writing topics.

Phuong Thao