You might assume that fortune cookies are Chinese in origin. Not so.
Though they were probably first folded by a Canton-born baker, the crunchy little cookies
with sage advice were invented in San Franicsco. Want to know more? Those who
inquire gain knowledge.
By Alexandria Abramian
Hemispheres
©1999 United Airlines
Neatly folded like a beige linen napkin, fortune cookies usually come to us resting
lightly on the back side of a restaurant bill. Whether we gobble the treat and then
read our fortune or vice versa, few, if any, disregard the message contained within.
Even those who don't believe find it difficult to resist predictions of wealth and
romance or subtle affirmations of our wit, strength, and allure, so we stash the little
slips of paper in back pockets and hidden wallet compartments. Perhaps it's the
mystery that we find oddly reassuring: We imagine bearded sages in distant lands,
inscribing truisms that will come to us only after we've filled ourselves with won tons
and moo shu. Indeed, the original inspiration for fortune cookies may date back to
the 13th Century, when Chinese soldiers slipped rice paper messages into mooncakes to help
coordinate their defense against Mongolian invaders. And yet, for all of the mystery
and seemingly exotic allure, fortune cookies are strictly an invention of the Untied
States.
The fortune cookie, like chop suey, is a U.S. invention that is often thought to be
from another country. Discovering their exact origins, however, proves to be as
elusive as finding one's way through San Francisco's Chinatown, where a handful of small,
family-run fortune cookie factories remain scattered along narrow alleyways and smoky side
streets. While the self-proclaimed "Fortune Cookie Capital of the World"
seems the likeliest birthplace, some maintain that fortune cookies actually come from Los
Angeles, where Canton-native David Jung, a baker and restauranteur, began making cookies
with thin slips of paper inside sometime around 1920. Jung founded the Hong Kong
Noodle Company, which was producing more than 3,000 cookies an hour in the 1920s.
Still another theory holds that the delicate cookies were the brainchild of Makoto
Hagiwara, a Japanese designer who first debuted them at the 1915 Panama-Pacific
Exhibition.
It wasn't until 1983 that the multiple "founders" of fortune cookies finally
had their say in a San Francisco courtroom. By that time, many others had jumped
into the fray, and an exhaustive hearing ensued before San Francisco was ultimately ruled
as the homoeland of fortune cookies.
While their origin is debatable, the popularity of fortune cookies is not: Today
more than 100 U.S. factories churn out millions every day. And hwile the recipe for
the cookies -- a simple concoction of eggs, flour, sugar, and water -- remains unchanged,
the fortunes contained within have changed in as many ways as the United States itself,
providing an interesting case study of the U.S. psyche.
Jung began by lifting passages out of the Bible and using quotes by Aesop and Ben
Franklin, while other early companies relied on Confucian epigrams. Most fortunes
were moral in tone, such as "Happiness is not perfect until it is shared."
By the 1950s, Jung decided that people wanted lighter and more playful fortunes,
and he began running periodic fortune-writing contests for which winners were awarded
memberships in the San Francisco Society of Fortune Cookie Scribes. The contests
inspired such aphorisms as "A woman's sword is her tongue, and she doesn't let it
rust." It wasn't long before others realized the marketing potential in the
slips of paper. To promote his 1966 film, The Fortune Cookie, Billy Wilder
had 15,000 cookies with the message "There's a marvelous picture in your
future!" sent to exhibitors, journalists, and restauranteurs.
Fortune cookies went through their most radical changes in the '60s and '70s.
Edward Louie, another Canton-born businessman, invented a machine that automatically
placed the fortune inside the 3-inch wafer and folded it into its customary shape.
But Louie's contribution was not limited to changing the way the cookies were made.
The inventor's motto, "anything for a laugh," gave rise to "risque"
fortune cookies, with messages ranging from racy to ribald. And in the money-focused
'80s, fortune cookie companies began inscribing lucky lottery numbers on the strips.
Today, companies publish bilingual fortunes in English/Spanish and English/Chinese.
Brooklyn-based Wonton Food Company, the largest producer of fortune cookies in the
United States, relies on the creations of school children for some of its inscriptions.
"Pay attention in class, homework will be a breeze" is one such message
of wisdom.
Until recently, fortune cookies were virtually unknown in China. In 1993, Wonton
Food Company began producing the treats in China. Since most of the cookies are
consumed in tourist areas, fortunes are printed in both English and Chinese.
However, sales in the region have not been as high as expected, perhaps because baked
goods in China are generally lower in sugar, in accordance with the belief that excess
sugar dulls the palate. Nevertheless, it is fitting that the product has finally had
the good fortune to make its way to the country with which it has so long been associated.
