Fortune cookies are usually served in Chinese-American restaurants after a meal is completed, and the fortune cookie must be broken open to obtain the fortune. The fortune cookie is a U.S. invention that is often thought to be from China. Fortune cookies are not known in the Chinese food culture. It wasnt until the 1990s that the fortune cookies actually arrived in China. In 1993, New York-based Wonton Food Company began producing the treats in China. They were advertised as Genuine American Fortune Cookies.
Some historians think that the inspiration for Fortune Cookies come from the 14th century when Chinese soldiers slipped messages into mooncakes to help coordinate their overthrow of Mongolian invaders. The story goes that Chinese partriots sought permission from Mongolian leaders to honor the longevity of the Mongolian emperor by giving gifts to friends and family. The gifts to be given out were round mooncakes. So the Chinese hid the message containing "Revolt on the fifteenth of the eighth moon." These were the instructions to coordinate the uprising which successfully formed the basis of the Ming Dynasty. It is also a Chinese custom when children are born for the families to send out cake rolls with a message inside announcing the birth of the child. However, it is a matter of debate as to where in American these cookies were first made.
One story says that Canton-native David Jung, a Los Angeles baker and restauranteur, began making cookies with thin slips of paper inside sometime around 1920. Jung handed out these cookies, which contained words of encouragement, to the poor and homeless people on the streets. He later founded the Hong Kong Noodle Company and produced fortune cookies.
Another story says that Makota Hagiwara, a landscape architect and caretaker
of the Japanese Tea Gardens, made Fortune Cookies in Los Angeles in the
early 1900s. He created cookies bearing thank you notes, which helped
him in a dispute with the citys major. He displayed his creation
at the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exhibition held in San Francisco. The Court
of Historical Reviews and Appeals, a San Francisco mock court, ruled that
San Francisco is the rightful fortune cookie capital of the world
For almost 40 years, the fortune cookies were made using chopsticks.
In 1960, Edward Louie, owner of the Lotus Fortune Cookie Company in San
Francisco, invented a machine that automatically placed the fortune inside
the 3-inch wafer and folded it. Today fortune cookies come in all sizes
and flavors. The fortune they carry contain messages from Bible Verses
to lottery number to X-rated.
If you are in San Francisco, you can go to the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory to see how fortune cookies are made.