Fortune Cookies: Made in Japan? Like Pizza? Your Weirdest Fortune?
Photograph from iStockphoto.com
Who would have thunk it? According to an extraordinary story in the New York Times by Jennifer 8. Lee, fortune cookies are more like Toyotas than Fords. That is, they originated near Kyoto, Japan, not in America's Chinatowns—and certainly not in China.
So many questions abound. Who discovered this? And, to paraphrase a lyric from a Talking Heads song, "You may ask yourself, 'How did they get here?'" And, why are fortune cookies like pizza?
The answers after the jump:
Who made this amusingly shocking discovery? Yasuko Nakamachi, a folklore and history graduate student in Japan. She discovered handmade fortune cookies being made on black "kata" grills at Sohonke Hogyokudo, a bakery outside Kyoto. When Nagamachi started doing research, she discovered illustrations of fortune cookies in a book published in 1878.
How did they get to the United States?
Like pizza, fortune cookies went from American ethnic specialty to mainstream food item as a result of World War II. In the case of pizza, GIs came back from Europe hungry for what they tasted when they were stationed in Italy. Fortune cookies, according to Lee, had a sort of similar arc, but with soldiers returning from active duty in the Far East:
The cookie’s path is relatively easy to trace back to World War II. At that time they were a regional specialty [Just like pizza was at the time in New York City; New Haven, Connecticut; and Trenton, New Jersey. —Ed.], served in California Chinese restaurants, where they were known as “fortune tea cakes.” There, according to later interviews with fortune cookie makers, they were encountered by military personnel on the way back from the Pacific Theater. When these veterans returned home, they would ask their local Chinese restaurants why they didn’t serve fortune cookies as the San Francisco restaurants did.
Last question: If fortune cookies (or "fortune tea cakes," as they were called back then) are Japanese in origin, how did they make their way to Chinese restaurants in California? Nakamichi isn't sure, but Gary Ono, the grandson of the founder of one of the oldest fortune cookie bakeries in San Francisco, has his own theory: "At one point the Japanese must have said, fish head and rice and pickles must not go over well with the American population."
The moral of the story: If you can't sell fish heads, switch to fortune cookies.
Final questions for Serious Eaters: What's the weirdest fortune you've ever gotten in a fortune cookie? Have you ever carried around a fortune because you loved what it said so much?
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31 Comments:
I have a fortune taped to my monitor at work that says "You look pretty." What's not to love???
cupcake girl at 7:56AM on 01/16/08
My after eating at a local chinese buffet with my sister, she opened her fortune cookie and was baffled. It said: "What is pink and smells like pork? Sweet and Sour Pork."
feep at 8:11AM on 01/16/08
After my two co-workers opened their fortune cookies to find both contained positive statements of love and happiness, I opened mine to find: "You might be hungry later, order takeout now."
akamonty at 8:25AM on 01/16/08
The Chinese restaurant near my office gives you a choice between regular fortune cookies and ones for adults. It's always so funny to see ladies who lunch open them after their meal and giggle. Of course with the advent of the state lottery the flip side of the fortune now has your lucky numbers!
RichardCrystal at 8:28AM on 01/16/08
Weirdest one: "You will get new clothes."
Best one, that I have hanging on my board at work: "Keep your plans secret for now."
dmbfanmd at 9:08AM on 01/16/08
"Your day will be somewhat affected by authority"
Lauren Krueger at 9:57AM on 01/16/08
I have one on the door of my office - "You have inexhaustible wisdom and power."
LauraII at 10:01AM on 01/16/08
My fave: "You're about to have a run of good luch." Yes, it had "luck" misspelled! Just my luch! I have it hanging up on my fridge :)
CookiePie at 10:04AM on 01/16/08
I have kept the same fortune as you dmbfanmd! I also have it hanging on my board at work. I think it's the best one, too!
aungeinphx at 11:16AM on 01/16/08
"You're laughing now, but wait until you get home."
aoiwowie at 11:19AM on 01/16/08
"More pineapple, please."
swans at 11:54AM on 01/16/08
"you're laughing now but wait till you get home"
-aoiwowie
..... that one is kinda scary!!!
bisbee at 12:09PM on 01/16/08
the day before my son was born, my daughter's fortune was "A short, dark stranger will soon enter your life". I am not normally a cheeseball, but this one is still tucked into my wallet somewhere.
i8alot at 12:20PM on 01/16/08
"If you are still hungry, have another fortune cookie."
DanielJ at 1:01PM on 01/16/08
My weirdest fortune was not so much what it said, but what it did. I was at this restaurant that offered both General and Adult fortunes. My table opted for Adult. I cracked open my fortune cookie and a huge cockroach came out of it and ran up my arm. To this day I still get the wigs.
chisai at 1:19PM on 01/16/08
"Life can be sweet and sour, and so can your meal."
brandi at 2:15PM on 01/16/08
by far, this one
lethargarian at 2:42PM on 01/16/08
In the past month, on separate occasions, I've gotten a blank fortune. So, if I stop commenting here I think it's safe to assume I'm dead :)
LizNYC at 2:53PM on 01/16/08
I collect fortunes, and get lots of generic ones. The best fortune I've gotten reads, "Very soon, and in pleasant company." I think that covers all bases!
kirkbyky at 2:55PM on 01/16/08
There is a Chinese food restaurant in my town that does not put fortunes in its cookies because it is a Christian business. There's nothing wrong with this, but it's a little sad to open your fortune (non-fortune?) cookie and have nothing inside!
The ones my husband and I got last night happen to be related to our potential work situations in the near future! "Investigate a new opportunity as a potential prospect."
misseditor at 2:56PM on 01/16/08
Anybody else have funny fortune-cookie traditions? One that's popular where I come from is to read your fortune aloud to the rest of your party and add the words "in bed" to the end of the fortune. Some pretty hysterical results as you go around the table. Especially if it's a large group that's been drinking!
LoCo at 3:42PM on 01/16/08
Went to a Chinese restaurant on my 40th birthday, April 1, and my fortune said" A fool at forty is a fool indeed"
diamath at 3:43PM on 01/16/08
Favorite fortune "that wasn't chicken".
logicalmind at 4:16PM on 01/16/08
most nonsensical: "here we go. moo shu cereal for breakfast. with duck sauce."
favorite: "a nice cake is waiting for you."
i should eat chinese food more often!
hannahc at 4:41PM on 01/16/08
A recent one that's still sitting on my desk:
Avoid the opposite sex today.
Yeah, right!
And then just for emphasis, the 'Learn Chinese' word on the back:
Still single-mae yao jeh huan
Can't make these up!!
Curlz at 5:17PM on 01/16/08
Best I ever got was "You like to eat Chinese food"
beanish at 5:22PM on 01/16/08
When I was in high school, a friend of mine was deployed during Desert Storm. I made him homemade fortune cookies and put fortunes like "Don't look a gift camel in the mouth," and "If you lay down with camels, you'll get up with sand fleas." They were great comic relief and I had a blast making them.
mollydolly at 7:33PM on 01/16/08
I got one that said: "The number three."
I keep every one of my fortune cookie slips. The early ones were in this tiny 1 inch diameter decorative clay pot. When that got full, I started putting them in the large pink plastic see-through piggy bank that I got as a holiday party gift. That hasn't gotten full yet.
wunami at 8:05PM on 01/16/08
We had our wedding dinner at a Chinese restaurant (we were broke) and my fortune cookie read: Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.
17 years later ... I still have the husband and the fortune too.
maered at 12:41AM on 01/17/08
maered: IMHO, you are the winner! Nobody would dare say it, but what perfect advice for any new bride.
LoCo: We do something similar - our phrase is, "That's what the girl said to the sailor." Can get darn funny with a group, especially with a little alcohol thrown in. In any casual situation. Yours definitely works best with fortunes, though. I'm laughing.
PerkyMac at 11:12PM on 01/17/08
My mom got a fortune that read, "Promote literacy, eat more fortune cookies." And the sad thing is that she is an English teacher.
Tasty Morsel at 12:24AM on 01/19/08