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.