Fortune cookie

Fortune cookie

Unopened fortune cookies
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 inside, 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 other Western countries, but are not a tradition 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. They most likely originated from cookies made by Japanese immigrants to the United States in the late 19th or early 20th century. The Japanese version did not have the Chinese lucky numbers and was eaten with tea.

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 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 were all made by hand. However, 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.

Authorities briefly investigated Wonton Food Inc. in 2005, after 110 Powerball lottery players won about $19 million after using the "lucky numbers" on the back of fortunes.^[11][12]

Manufacturing processes vary between plants but they generally follow the same procedure. The ingredients (typically made with a base of flour, sugar, vanilla, and sesame seed oil) are mixed in a large tank and squirted onto fast moving trays. These function like a conveyor belt and are heated to cook the dough. Cookies are compressed with round hot plates to shape and cook them. The cookies bake for approximately one minute and are reshaped. They can be mechanically shaped or folded by hand. When automated, a machine folds the cookie into the right orientation with the fortune inside. Cooled and hardened cookies are sealed in plastic wrappers, which are then inspected before being sent to be served.^[13]

Marketing

Fortune cookies are used as a tool for marketing for many different companies. One big marketing campaign that used fortune cookies was for the movie Kung Fu Panda 3. The fortune slips in the fortune cookies contained sayings by Po the main character, and are called "Po-isms." The sayings had typical fortune sayings but were said by the main character with relativity towards the movie. Another form of advertisement typically seen on fortune cookies would be for the lottery system. Usually on the back side of the slip with the fortune would be a "lucky number," numbers that can possibly help an individual win the lottery. It promotes people to purchase at least one lottery ticket since this number is given to them by luck, and they could possibly win a lot of money with that one number. Although it doesn't seem like much it is a very good method of marketing since a large population in America consumes Chinese food, thus bringing a large market to advertise to.^[14][15]

Nutrition

Cookies from different companies are all different in their specific nutritional facts. One cookie is around 20-30 calories and 5-7 grams of total carbohydrates per 8 ounce cookie. Beyond those, each brand of cookie is very different. Most cookies contain around 3 grams of sugar, but some such as the cookies at Pei Wei have no sugar. Panda Express and Golden Bowl cookies have 8 milligrams and 2 milligrams of sodium respectively. Golden Bowl fortune cookies have 1% of the daily recommended amount of iron. Pei Wei cookies contain 3 grams of protein. Overall, fortune cookies can easily be summed up as empty calories since one cookie no matter the brand has hardly any nutritional value.^{[16][17][18][19]}

Around the world

Fortune cookies, while largely an American item, have been served in Chinese restaurants in Brazil, Canada, France, India, Italy, Mexico, United Kingdom, as well as other countries.^[2] In Peru they're served in the chifas, Chinese-Peruvian fusion food restaurants.

There are also multi-cultural versions of the fortune cookie. For instance, the Mexican version of the fortune cookie is called the "Lucky Taco", it is a red taco-shaped cookie with a fortune inside.^[20]

There is also an Italian version called the "Lucky Canoli".^[20]

The fortune cookie, although thought to be Chinese, is actually Japanese. The original cookie is cooked with a darker batter and is seasoned with miso and topped with sesame seeds.^[20]

Asian stereotype

Fortune cookies are sometimes viewed as a stereotype of East Asians by Westerners.^[21][22][23] "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.^[24] The Asian American Journalists Association discourages associating ethnic foods with Asian Americans in news coverage.^[25][26][27]

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,^[28] 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^[29]. 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"). Another reference was in the episode, "Goo Goo Gai Pan", when Selma had her adopted baby taken from her in China, Homer said that the fortune cookies are more accurate in China, to which a fortune said "We will take Selma's baby." appears.

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."^[30][31]

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." The rest of the episode revolves around his subsequent bad luck.

See also

Notes

References

• Martin, James (2004), "Fortune Cookies: A San Francisco Invention", About.com, archived from the original on August 18, 2004, retrieved August 11, 2004 .
• Brunner, Borgna (2005), "The History of the Fortune Cookie", Infoplease, retrieved May 10, 2005 
• Lee, Jennifer 8. (2008). The Fortune Cookie Chronicles. New York City: Twelve Books. ISBN 0-446-58007-4. 
• Parvin, Ellie (1995), "Fortune cookie US invention", Golden Gater, retrieved May 24, 2006 .

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Fortune cookie.

• Cookie Master – Article detailing the job of a cookie fortunes writer
• A Brief History of The Fortune Cookie – An account by Erik S. Nagata, the great, great grandson of Makoto Hagiwara
• Nice fortune cookie messages – for the whole family