Bakers in San Francisco offer new treats for mooncake lovers for Mid-Autumn Festival

Bakers in San Francisco's Chinatown have been adding some new twists to traditional Chinese mooncakes to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival, which falls on Sept 17 this year.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is a traditional Chinese festival celebrated on the night when the moon reaches its fullest and brightest on the 15th day of the eighth month on the lunar calendar. Sharing mooncakes, a classic Chinese baked pastry that symbolizes family reunions during the harvest season, with loved ones is an important part of the festival celebrations.

The iCake Bakery in the heart of the city's Chinatown is especially busy at this time of year. This year, the bakery owner Hannah Zhang invited Judy Lee, the vice president of the San Francisco Chinese Chamber of Commerce, to make mooncakes.

"So we have here a black sesame filling. It's one of the most unique flavors we have at iCafe. And now we're going to put in an egg yolk," said Lee when making the mooncake.

Just around the corner at the AA Cafe, owner Henry Chen has also been experimenting with some new twists on the classic treat.

"We have a lot of different [flavors], like the date, melon, pineapple, strawberry, mango and seasoned nuts," said Chen.

Visitors to San Francisco's Chinatown can find all sorts of mooncakes, especially in the months leading up to the Mid-Autumn Festival. Whether it is a traditional or modern variety, it is a way to connect with a tradition that stretches back more than a thousand years and to remind people what the historic Chinatown community has to offer.

"In the spirit of the Moon Festival, it gives us another reason to gather with our friends and family to attract people who've never been to San Francisco's Chinatown and see why there's so much preservation here. It is the oldest Chinatown in the nation still," said Lee.

Bakers in San Francisco offer new treats for mooncake lovers for Mid-Autumn Festival

Bakers in San Francisco offer new treats for mooncake lovers for Mid-Autumn Festival

The U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday slashed interest rates by 50 basis points amid cooling inflation and a weakening labor market, marking the first rate cut in over four years.

"The Committee has gained greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably toward 2 percent, and judges that the risks to achieving its employment and inflation goals are roughly in balance," the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the central bank's policy-setting body, said in a statement.

"In light of the progress on inflation and the balance of risks, the Committee decided to lower the target range for the federal funds rate by 1/2 percentage point to 4-3/4 to 5 percent," the FOMC said.

This signals the start of an easing cycle. Starting from March 2022, the Fed had raised rates consecutively for 11 times to combat inflation not seen in forty years, pushing the target range for the federal funds rate up to between 5.25 percent and 5.5 percent, the highest level in over two decades.

After maintaining rates at the high level for over a year, the Fed's tight monetary policy faced pressure to pivot due to the easing of inflationary pressures, signs of weakening in the job market, and slowing economic growth.

U.S. Fed slashes rates by 50 basis points, first rate cut in four years