Fortune cookie

"Fortune Cookies" redirects here. For other uses, see Fortune Cookies (disambiguation).
Fortune cookie

An unopened fortune cookie
Type Cookie
Place of origin United States
Main ingredients Flour, sugar, vanilla, and oil
Cookbook: Fortune cookie  Media: Fortune cookie

A fortune cookie is a crisp cookie usually made from flour, sugar, vanilla, and sesame seed oil with a piece of paper, a "fortune", on which is an aphorism, or a vague prophecy. The message inside may also include a Chinese phrase with translation and/or a list of lucky numbers used by some as lottery numbers, some of which have become actual winning numbers.[1] Fortune cookies are often served as a dessert in Chinese restaurants in the United States and some other countries, but are absent in China. The exact origin of fortune cookies is unclear, though various immigrant groups in California claim to have popularized them in the early 20th century.

Origin

An opened fortune cookie

As far back as the 19th century, a cookie very similar in appearance to the modern fortune cookie was made in Kyoto, Japan; and there is a Japanese temple tradition of random fortunes, called omikuji. The Japanese version of the cookie differs in several ways: they are a little bit larger; are made of darker dough; and their batter contains sesame and miso rather than vanilla and butter. They contain a fortune; however, the small slip of paper was wedged into the bend of the cookie rather than placed inside the hollow portion. This kind of cookie is called tsujiura senbei (辻占煎餅) and is still sold in some regions of Japan, especially in Kanazawa, Ishikawa.[2] It is also sold in the neighborhood of Fushimi Inari-taisha shrine in Kyoto.[3]

Makoto Hagiwara of Golden Gate Park's Japanese Tea Garden in San Francisco is reported to have been the first person in the USA to have served the modern version of the cookie when he did so at the tea garden in the 1890s or early 1900s. The fortune cookies were made by a San Francisco bakery, Benkyodo.[4][5][6]

David Jung, founder of the Hong Kong Noodle Company in Los Angeles, has made a competing claim that he invented the cookie in 1918.[7] San Francisco's mock Court of Historical Review attempted to settle the dispute in 1983. During the proceedings, a fortune cookie was introduced as a key piece of evidence with a message reading, "S.F. Judge who rules for L.A. Not Very Smart Cookie". A federal judge of the Court of Historical Review determined that the cookie originated with Hagiwara and the court ruled in favor of San Francisco. Subsequently, the city of Los Angeles condemned the decision.[7]

Seiichi Kito, the founder of Fugetsu-do of Little Tokyo in Los Angeles, also claims to have invented the cookie.[8] Kito claims to have gotten the idea of putting a message in a cookie from Omikuji (fortune slip) which are sold at temples and shrines in Japan. According to his story, he sold his cookies to Chinese restaurants where they were greeted with much enthusiasm in both the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas. Thus Kito's main claim is that he is responsible for the cookie being so strongly associated with Chinese restaurants.

Up to around World War II, fortune cookies were known as "fortune tea cakes"—likely reflecting their origins in Japanese tea cakes.[2]

Fortune cookies moved from being a confection dominated by Japanese-Americans to one dominated by Chinese-Americans sometime around World War II. One theory for why this occurred is because of the Japanese American internment during World War II, which forcibly put over 100,000 Japanese-Americans in internment camps, including those who had produced fortune cookies. This gave an opportunity for Chinese manufacturers.[2]

Unusual non-positive aphorism found in a fortune cookie

Fortune cookies before the early 20th century, however, were all made by hand. The fortune cookie industry changed dramatically after the fortune cookie machine was invented by Shuck Yee from Oakland, California.[9] The machine allowed for mass production of fortune cookies which subsequently allowed the cookies to drop in price to become the novelty and courtesy dessert many Americans are familiar with after their meals at most Chinese restaurants today.

Chinese legend

Rumors that fortune cookies were invented in China are seen as false.[10] In 1989, fortune cookies were reportedly imported into Hong Kong and sold as "genuine American fortune cookies".[10] Wonton Food attempted to expand its fortune cookie business into China in 1992, but gave up after fortune cookies were considered "too American".[10]

Many view the mooncake hidden message system that was used in the Ming revolution to be a precursor to the modern day fortune cookie. By adding the covert element to the myths of the fortune cookie some have found more meaning behind the simple treat. This led to the act of removing and replacing the fortune inside without breaking for an added bit of good luck.

Manufacturers

Hot fortune cookies being folded around paper fortunes

There are approximately 3 billion fortune cookies made each year around the world, the vast majority of them used for consumption in the United States.[2] The largest manufacturer of the cookies is Wonton Food Inc., headquartered in Brooklyn, New York. They make over 4.5 million fortune cookies per day. Another large manufacturer are Baily International in the Midwest and Peking Noodle in the Los Angeles area. There are other smaller, local manufacturers including Tsue Chong Co. in Seattle, Keefer Court Food in Minneapolis and Sunrise Fortune Cookie in Philadelphia. Many smaller companies will also sell custom fortunes.

Around the world

Fortune cookies, while largely an American item, have been served in Chinese restaurants in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, France, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, United Kingdom, Finland, as well as other countries.[2]

Asian stereotype

Fortune cookies are sometimes viewed as a stereotype of East Asians by Westerners.[11][12][13] "I think it does go to what people think when they think of Asians. They think of food. Because that is really their only point of contact, or awareness, with the Asian-American community." said Andrew Kang, senior staff attorney at the Asian-American Institute in Chicago.[14] The Asian American Journalists Association discourages associating ethnic foods with Asian Americans in news coverage.[15][16][17]

Translations of name

Globally, the cookies are generally called by the English term fortune cookies, being American in origin.

There is no single accepted Chinese name for the cookies, with a large variety of translations being used to describe them in the Chinese language, all of which being more-or-less literal translations of the English "fortune cookie". Examples include: 幸运籤饼 xìngyùn qiān bǐng "good luck lot cookie", 籤语饼 qiān yǔ bǐng "fortune words cookie", 幸运饼 xìngyùn bǐng "good luck cookie", 幸运籤语饼 xìngyùn qiān yǔ bǐng "lucky fortune words cookie", 幸运甜饼 xìngyùn tián bǐng "good luck sweet cookie", 幸福饼干 xìngfú bǐnggān "good luck biscuit", or 占卜饼 zhānbǔ bǐng "divining cookie".

In popular culture

The non-Chinese origin of the fortune cookie is humorously illustrated in Amy Tan's 1989 novel The Joy Luck Club, in which a pair of immigrant women from China find jobs at a fortune cookie factory in America. They are amused by the unfamiliar concept of a fortune cookie but, after several hilarious attempts at translating the fortunes into Chinese, come to the conclusion that the cookies contain not wisdom but "bad instruction."

Fortune cookies have become an iconic symbol in American culture, inspiring many products. There are fortune cookie-shaped jewelry, a fortune cookie-shaped Magic 8 Ball, and silver-plated fortune cookies. Fortune cookie toilet paper, with words of wisdom that appear when the paper is moistened, has become popular among university students in Italy and Greece.

There is a common joke in the United States involving fortune cookies that involves appending "between the sheets" or "[except] in bed" to the end of the fortune, usually creating a sexual innuendo or other bizarre messages (e.g., "Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall [in bed]"). A gallows humor variation to this joke involves appending the phrase "in jail" to the end of the fortune.

In The Simpsons episode "The Last Temptation of Homer," Homer, who is trying to resist having an affair with a co-worker, receives a fortune reading "You will find happiness with a new love." The scene then cuts to the kitchen, where one waiter notes they're out of "new love" fortunes, only for another to point out a "stick with your wife" barrel. In another episode, "Hunka-Hunka Burns in Love," the family complains to their waiter about getting subpar fortunes (for example, "Every house has a bathroom"), and Homer winds up getting a job writing them himself ("You will be aroused by a shampoo commercial").

In Are You Afraid of the Dark? episode "The Tale of the Misfortunate Cookie", David's misreading of a magical fortune cookie sends him to an alternate world where he learns the negative consequences of his wish.

In Iron Man 3, the sardonically villainous Mandarin, played by Ben Kingsley, mentions the cookie's origin, stating: "True story about fortune cookies—they look Chinese, they sound Chinese. But they're actually an American invention, which is why they're hollow, full of lies and leave a bad taste in the mouth." Later his character says "Did you know fortune cookies aren't even Chinese? They're made by Americans, based on a Japanese recipe."[18][19]

In the video game Animal Crossing New Leaf, the player can purchase fortune cookies, which allows them to win Nintendo-themed items.

In 2013, Japanese pop group AKB48 released a single titled "Koisuru Fortune Cookie" which sold 1,095,894 copies on its first day of release, and reached number one on the Oricon weekly charts with over 1.33 million copies. AKB48's Indonesian sister group JKT48 released their own version of the song titled "Fortune Cookie Yang Mencinta" as did the Chinese sister group SNH48 as "Ài de xìngyùn qū qí".

In an episode of cartoon series Rocko's Modern Life, character Filbert Turtle receives a fortune that reads "Bad luck and misfortune will forever torment your pathetic soul for all eternity.". This fortune comes true and the entire episode revolves around his bad luck.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ "Fortune Cookie Fortune". snopes .com
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Lee, Jennifer (January 16, 2008). "Solving a Riddle Wrapped in a Mystery Inside a Cookie". The New York Times. Retrieved May 10, 2012.
  3. ↑ Lee, Jennifer 8. (January 16, 2008). "Fortune Cookies are really from Japan.". The Fortune Cookie Chronicles. Archived from the original on 2011-07-25.
  4. ↑ Nagata, Erik. "A Brief History of The Fortune Cookie".
  5. ↑ Ono, Gary (2007-10-31). "Japanese American Fortune Cookie: A Taste of Fame or Fortune -- Part II".
  6. ↑ (Martin 2004)
  7. 1 2 (Brunner 2005).
  8. ↑ A History of Fugetsu-Do, www.fugetsu-do.com
  9. ↑ Oaklandish Archived January 10, 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  10. 1 2 3 Barbara Mikkelson. Incsrutable Cookie. Snopes.com.
  11. ↑ Leonard, David (June 22, 2003). "Yo, Yao! What does the "Ming Dynasty" tell us about race and transnational diplomacy in the NBA? (Culture).". ColorLines Magazine. Retrieved September 7, 2010. For example, in honor of Yao's debut appearance in Miami, the American Airlines Arena passed out fortune cookies to all 8,000 fans in attendance ... While understandably a source of cultural delight, the attempts to attract Asian fans through stereotypes and decontextualized cultural festivals reflect the NBA's economic and cultural hopes for the "Ming Dynasty."
  12. ↑ Ballantini, Brett (March 1, 2003). "Shaquille O'Neil: the ugly American – From Courtside". Basketball Digest. pp. 6–7. Archived from the original on June 20, 2008. Retrieved February 1, 2011. For Yao's first game in Miami on December 16, the Heat "honored" Yao by passing out 8,000 fortune Cookies—the quintessential Asian stereotype—to spectators
  13. ↑ "Movie tie-in holds nugget of debate". Lodi News-Sentinel. June 20, 1998. p. 4. Retrieved March 1, 2012.
  14. ↑ McCarthy, Michael (February 16, 2012). "Asian stereotypes appearing in coverage of Knicks' Jeremy Lin". USA Today. Archived from the original on February 16, 2012.
  15. ↑ Sweeten-Shults, Lana (February 27, 2012). "Frozen yogurt, cookies offer food for thought". Times Record News. Archived from the original on March 1, 2012.
  16. ↑ Stableford, Dylan (February 23, 2012). "Asian American Journalists Association releases guidelines on Jeremy Lin media coverage". yahoo.com. Archived from the original on February 24, 2012.
  17. ↑ "AAJA Media Advisory on Jeremy Lin News Coverage". channelapa.com. February 23, 2012. Archived from the original on February 24, 2012.
  18. ↑ Quotes from Film: Iron Man 3 - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1300854/
  19. ↑ "Creating a takeout menu for Lunar New Year" by Phil Vettel, Chicago Tribune, January 21, 2005, "Friday" section, page 19. (Describing "the 'in bed' game.") Also, "'To know is nothing; to imagine is everything' - social ritual and meaning in the consumption of fortune cookies," by Ellen R Foxman; Mary Stanfield Bradley. American Marketing Association. Conference Proceedings. 2002; Vol.13; page 98 (at page 101).

References

External links

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