Mid-Autumn festival

Source :china.tyfo.com

It is now the eighth month in the lunar calendar, the time for the Chinese to celebrate the Mid-Autumn festival. It is so called because it is in the middle of the eighth month, which is a full moon. We used to celebrate the full moon by fruit, moon cake, and children played their lanterns with neighbor. Why should people celebrate the moon in mid-Autumn? It because of a story happened long long time ago in China. To read the story, just click Here!

On the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar(24th Sept. this year), the moon is full and it is time for the Chinese people to mark their Moon Festival, or the Mid-Autumn Festival. The round shape symbolizes family reunion. Therefore the day is a holiday for family members to get together and enjoy the full moon - an auspicious token of abundance, harmony and luck.

Sons and daughters will come back to their parents' house. Sometimes people who have already settled overseas will return to visit their parents on that day. Adults will usually indulge in fragrant moon cakes of many varieties with a good cup of piping hot Chinese tea, while the little ones run around with their brightly-lit lanterns. After nightfall, entire families go out under the stars for a walk or picnics, looking up at the full silver moon, thinking of their nearby relatives or friends, as well as those who are far from home. A line from a verse "The moon at the home village is exceptionally brighter" expresses those feelings. It is also a romantic night for the lovers, who sit holding hands on riverbanks and park benches, enraptured by the brightest moon of the year.

Round "moon cakes", made of fruit, ice cream, yogurt, pork, mushrooms, green tea, flowers, jelly etc., are a traditional food eaten during the festival. People also enjoy pomelos on this day; yu, the Chinese word for pomelo, sounds the same as another Chinese word to beseech the moon god for protection.

More to read at following Links;

http://susanchua.blogspot.com/

http://kevdesign.com/midautumnfestival/korea.htm

http://www.chiff.com/home_life/holiday/harvest-moon-festival.htm

ORGANIC FOODS NOT HEALTHIER THAN CONVENTIONAL

CONTACT: James N. Klapthor (312) 782-8424 x231

E-mail: jnklapthor@ift.org

CHICAGO–Organic foods are not superior in nutritional quality or safety when compared against conventional foods, yet organics do have the potential for greater pathogen contamination. Thus, purchasing organically grown produce is not necessary for safety or nutritional reasons, according to the Institute of Food Technologists, an international, not-for-profit scientific society.

“Consumers need to understand that organic production does not mean pesticide-free and pathogen-free production,” says IFT food science expert Carl Winter, the director of the FoodSafe Program at University of California at Davis.

Neither organic nor conventionally grown foods are free from pesticides. And scientific evidence indicates that health risks associated with disease-causing microorganisms are far greater than risks associated with pesticide residues, which are negligible. In its most recent Expert Report, IFT reveals that scientific information is insufficient to ensure that foodborne pathogens are killed during composting and applying manure, a significant vehicle for pathogens and the major source of fertilizer used for growing organic produce.

“Organics cannot supply foods always free from pathogens or pesticides, and cannot provide our nation with a more nutritional, diverse, and safe food supply than we currently enjoy,” says IFT President Mark McLellan, an expert on agricultural methods and director of the Institute of Food Science & Engineering at Texas A&M University.

“Conventionally grown foods that utilize well-researched techniques including biotechnology benefit all consumers worldwide with a more abundant and economical food supply, foods of enhanced nutritional quality, and fresh fruits and vegetables with improved shelf life,” McLellan asserts.

IFT steadfastly supports the techniques of rDNA biotechnology which significantly reduces or eliminates the application of pesticides.

Please check out more from:

http://www.ift.org/cms/?pid=1000486

http://www.mindfully.org/Food/Organic-Vegetables-Clean.htm