Explainer | Discover where fortune cookies were invented and why most people in China have never heard of them
- Sweet snack did not originate in China, but it is also not American
- Treat spread through North America by soldiers during World War II
While dining at a Chinese restaurant in the West, you may well receive a familiar dessert after settling the bill, a fortune cookie.
The crisp, folded wafer contains a piece of paper with a brief, usually encouraging, message.
As the supervillain from the film Iron Man, the Mandarin, said: “A true story about fortune cookies. They look Chinese. They sound Chinese. But they’re actually an American invention.”
He was half correct. They are certainly not Chinese, but they are also not American.
Origins
Fortune cookies did not originate in China. Some say their roots are Western, but others take a different view.
Dating back to the 19th century, the Japanese cookie Tsujiura Senbei wedges a paper slip into the bend of the cookie rather than placing it inside the hollow interior.
It closely resembles today’s fortune cookie and serves as a precursor to the later adaptation.
Makoto Hagiwara, a Japanese-born American landscape designer, is reported to have been the first person in the US to serve the modern version of the fortune cookie at the Japanese Tea Garden in San Francisco in the late 1890s or early 1900s.
However, David Jung, the founder of the Hong Kong Noodle Company in Los Angeles, also claimed that he invented the fortune cookie in 1918, a claim that led to a legal dispute in San Francisco in 1983.
A court ruled in favour of Hagiwara.
An amusing aside is that during the proceedings, lawyers introduced a fortune cookie as evidence, it contained the message: “SF Judge who rules for LA Not Very Smart Cookie”.
Despite the ruling, half a dozen companies and families with long ties to the area claim their ancestors invented the snack.
The production of fortune cookies shifted to Chinese Americans during World War II when Japanese Americans were ostracised during the war and forced into internment camps, allowing the former to popularise the confection.
Where to find them
Fortune cookies are served in Chinese restaurants worldwide, but not in China.
Approximately three billion fortune cookies are made globally each year, the majority of which are consumed in the US, according to The New York Times.
Surprisingly, they are seldom found in China, primarily because they are not inherently Chinese. There is not even a universally recognised Chinese equivalent word for the English term “fortune cookies”.
What are they?
A crisp, sugary cookie wafer made of flour, sugar, and vanilla and contains a piece of paper with a message. It is typically served as a dessert along with the bill.
Customers often find themselves more intrigued by the short, proverbial messages inside these cookies than the desert itself.
These messages, focusing on luck, happiness, or inspiration, always offer a light-hearted forecast or thought-provoking predictions.
A fortune cookie with no message inside is considered good luck.
