Chinese Fortune Cookies: Who Really Invented Them?

There are several theories about the origin of Chinese fortune cookies and, surprisingly, most of these theories pinpoint the birthplace of the popular little "message" cookie as being in Japan, not in China. However, the Japanese fortune cookie differed somewhat from the cookie that eventually showed up in the United States in the early 1900s. The Japanese cookie was larger, used different ingredients in the dough, and had the message, or fortune, placed loosely in the fold rather than hiding it deep inside the tasty little pastry.

In the United States, the cookies were first purchased from a San Francisco bakery but became popular when they were served publicly at the Golden Gate Park's Japanese Tea Garden around 1900.

A Los Angeles man named David Jung, later claimed that he came up with the idea in 1918, but a court case failed to resolve the question, which to this day remains unsolved. What we do know is that the tiny little cookies have caught on in America and remain very popular, especially among children, today.

The association of the fortune cookie with Chinese culture is likely due to the activities of a man by the name of Seiichi Kito who, incidentally, also claimed to have invented the unique little cookie. Since Seiichi Kito sold his cookies to many Chinese restaurants, this may have contributed to the idea that they had originated in China.

Then, during World War II, many Japanese manufacturers were interned and unable to produce the cookies so it opened an opportunity for Chinese cookie makers to get a foot in the door. (1)

A Chinese legend says that Chinese soldiers fighting the Mongols in the 14th century, dressed up as Monks and passed messages to one another in moon cakes, a flat folded cookie popular at the time. However, these did not look anything like the present day fortune cookie, so it is doubtful that a claim for Chinese fortune cookie origin could be made based on the legend. (2)

What the fortune cookie has become is much more interesting than speculation about its origin.

The original cookies were made with a sesame seed flour and were not sweet at all. The messages inside were usually statement about the future of the person opening the cookie. "You will enter into a successful business negotiation soon," or something romantic like, "Keep your eyes open. Your true love is about to appear" for example.

A myth grew up around fortune cookies that you had to eat the cookie after reading the fortune or the prediction would not come true. Conversely, I suspect that if the fortune is a bad one, we should not eat the cookie but destroy it immediately.

Quotes from famous people were also popular messages, and are still commonly used today. Then, as people began to realize that fortune cookies could be used to send real messages, not just cute sayings, the industry began to boom.

Today, fortune cookies with weird, naughty, or political phrases are common. You might find a message in your cookie thanking you for coming to a seminar, wedding, or class of some kind. A church affair might end with handing out fortune cookies filled with uplifting Bible verses. Your boss may conclude the Christmas party by handing out fortune cookies that say, "Merry Christmas" followed with the company logo. A business may have a dish of fortune cookies by the cash register and give each customer one that contains a thank you for your business message.

There is no end to the messages that could be hidden in an innocent looking fortune cookie. A proposal, perhaps? How about an invitation to a birthday party? Maybe a birth announcement, or, an "I QUIT!" message for the boss and job you hate. And, if you want to be popular, you could put numbers in your fortune cookies for a door prize drawing at the end of a social event.

"Wait a minute," you say. "How do I get single messages like that into a cookie? Don't bakeries just put random messages in the cookies?"

Yes, and no. You can go to a bakery that bakes fortune cookies, or to most large grocery stores and buy a whole bag of fortune cookies with generic messages in them for a very reasonable price. If you want custom messages, you can get those, too, for a price that may or may not seem reasonable to you, but you can solve this problem by baking your own fortune cookies and enclosing whatever message you want the recipient to receive. If this sounds like fun to you, check out source (3) below.

Besides our concern for the message in our fortune cookies, there is one other thing to consider these days, and that is how they look on the outside. For many years, fortune cookies all looked the same-a drab little cookie that most people only ate in order to get to the message inside. Today, things have changed.

You can order (or make your own) fortune cookies dipped in chocolate and finished with sprinkles; they can be giant or mini sized, colored in school colors, dipped in fruit juice for color or flavor, or just food coloring in your favorite color. Your fortune cookies can be decorated on the outside with a wedding theme, a Christmas theme, and Easter theme, etc. Check out source (4) below for some ideas along these lines.

Finally, put a little laughter into your family's life by replacing the usual tub of popcorn with a bag of fortune cookies the next time you gather around to watch TV. You won't be sorry.

SOURCES:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_fortune_cookie
2. http://www.chcp.org/fortune.html
3. http://kids.creativity-portal.com/d/projects/food/fortune-cookie-recipe.shtml
4. http://www.fancyfortunecookies.com/flavors.shtml