国际英语资讯:Feature: Hong Kong-style mooncakes the apple of Vietnameses eyes_时事

国际英语资讯:Feature: Hong Kong-style mooncakes the apple of Vietnameses eyes

During the Mid-Autumn Festival last year, the woman sold hundreds of cartons of Hong Kong mooncakes, with each carton containing 50-60 cakes. During the festival this year, her sales are a little bit smaller.

"My best selling item is mooncakes filled with red beans and walnuts, which cost less than 100,000 Vietnamese dong (4.4 U.S. dollars)," the woman said.

To make Chinese mooncakes even more affordable to Vietnamese customers, many local people, both professional and amateur chefs, are baking Hong Kong-style mooncakes using their own modified methods.

Some chefs strictly follow Hong Kong styles but make the mooncakes smaller to lower the sales cost, while others use local ingredients but remain loyal to Hong Kong flavor and design by keeping their products moderately sweet and their wrappings fairly elegant.

"Powdered eggs, oolong tea and walnuts are fairly expensive, so I use such alternatives as coconuts, green tea and fragrant leaves. But our modified versions of Hong Kong-style mooncakes are still selling well," Bui Thi Huyen, a young cook at the Tan Trieu Nursery School in Hanoi, told Xinhua.

"Seeing that more and more adults and children prefer Hong Kong tastes, I have changed my method of making mooncakes this year, and sold them to my relatives and friends for much lower prices," the cook smiled.

During the Mid-Autumn Festival, especially at night, mooncakes, an indispensable delicacy of the annual event, are eaten while family members and friends gather in their houses or open-air venues, chatting or watching the moon.