A Taiwanese woman prepares red tortoise cakes for customers at a food stall inside a local market in Taipei. The traditional Taiwanese pastry is made with soft sticky glutinous rice that is stretched and kneaded to make it chewy.
The cakes are stuffed with a peanut or red bean filling to bring an auspicious message of sweetness and sense of delight to the experience of life. They are also enriched with a red food coloring and given a tortoise shape to evoke good fortune, prosperity and longevity.
Red tortoise cakes are popular in countries with Chinese communities, including Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. They are commonly prepared in observance of Lunar New Year festivities, as offerings to ancestors, and to mark weddings, birthdays and other noteworthy occasions.