Hanoi people are returning to moon cakes made by traditional methods at local families instead of the luxurious cakes from big manufacturers.
Makeshift shops of big manufacturers lack customers
Moon cake is traditionally eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival. The festival, held on the 15th day of the eighth month in the lunar calendar which falls on September 19 this year, is for moon-watching and especially, the celebration of children.
Not only did many large food manufacturers such as Kinh Do, Huu Nghi, Hai Ha or Thu Huong place their moon cakes up at their main shops during the seventh month in the Lunar calender, they also set up various makeshift shops on pavements to increase sales. Still their sales numbers were disappointing.
A seller of Kinh Do Corporation said people mostly buy cakes to sample the new kinds or to place on the offering trays for ancestors. Another seller from Huu Nghi Food Company said, "Last year, we earned VND5 million per day but our daily revenue this year is only VND2-3 million."
After the festival, tens of thousands of the cakes will be thrown away or sold at extremely low prices.
Meanwhile, people are queuing up to get moon cake boxes from local families.
People queue up outside Bao Phuong Bakery
Thuy Khue Street, where the bakeries of Bao Phuong and Tuan Anh are located, is often considered as the moon cake street. These bakeries do not add advertisement or fancy boxes, yet people are have been seen queuing up for hours in the street for them.
Some people arrive at 5am at Bao Phuong Bakery despite the rain in order to buy cakes, and as the day continued, guards had to control the crowd of people.
Cakes made at these bakeries can be bought hot out of the oven and must be eaten within about a week because preservatives are not used.
"Though the boxes are simple, the cakes are really more to my taste and I think they preserve the feeling of old times. I come here every year to buy cakes for family and friends." Thu Trang, one customer from Ba Dinh District, said with VGP News.