Around this time every year, Richmond grocery stores and bakeries are filled with towers of small, round cakes in fancy boxes and festive packaging. This is because we’re approaching the Mid-Autumn Festival, one of the most important annual festivals in Chinese culture, right after Chinese New Year. Celebrated among people from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Korea and Japan, the Mid-Autumn Festival is typically celebrated on the 15th day of the eighth Chinese lunar month every year. This year, it lands on September 29th. By VisitRichmondBC.com What is the Mid-Autumn Festival? The Mid-Autumn Festival is always celebrated on a day that coincides with a full moon. Ancient Chinese emperors worshipped the sun in the spring and moon in autumn, as they believed that the practice would bring them a plentiful harvest the next year. The practice entailed placing a large table in the middle of the yard…
Everyone’s a critic! If you’ve ever heard someone say it, and thought, “Well, actually, no, I’m not,” then this is your moment to live up to that old figure of speech. You can now channel your inner Aton Ego (the villain hero from Ratatouille) with this tour through one of the Lower Mainland’s most celebrated foodie destinations: Richmond. Now, a curated tour through the area’s famous Chinese cuisine would already be enough to warrant a ticket. However, the fact that this one is led by Globe and Mail food critic, Alexandra Gill, makes it a must for anyone remotely interested in food, food culture, or food criticism. In a private dining experience, your party will join Gill on a tour through her favourite restaurants, enjoying eight to ten courses, plus dessert. For those in the know, it’s one thing to read her famous reviews, but listening to her stories and…