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The history of fortune cookies

Wed, Nov 21 2006

The cookie's origin has long been a source of contention. The perfect end to a Chinese meal was most likely invented in San Francisco by a Japanese American.

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 patriots 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 cityÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s 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" in 1983.

Fortune cookies became common in Chinese restaurants after World War II. Desserts were not traditionally part of Chinese cuisine, and the cookies thus offered Americans something familiar with an exotic flair. Thus the tradition of giving cakes with messages was born and became a popular way of expressing wishes of goodwill or good fortune on an important occasion.

Fortune cookies were virtually unknown in Asia until 1993 when the Wonton Food Co. opened a factory in China. The project, however, was short-lived.

Fortune cookies were originally made by hand using chopsticks. In 1964, Edward Louie of San Francisco's Lotus Fortune Cookie Company, automated the process by creating a machine that folds the dough and slips in the fortune. Today, the world's largest fortune cookie manufacturer, Wonton Food Inc. of Long Island City, Queens ships out 60 million cookies a month.

Want more? Here is a great article on the history of popcorn.

| The History of Popcorn | Sushi Designing Art External Link

| Sex on the beach | Sushi, how it's made? External Link

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