Fortune Cookie

I love Chinese food and eat it regularly. I always thought that the fortune cookie that came with my Chinese meal was just a traditional Chinese thing and I ignored it for the most part.

At best I'd just pop the cookie open and read the message.

To me, and I'm sure to most everyone, the real appeal of this cookie is the message.

Since I've become a cookie baker and recipe swapper I've found out that they are actually very good to eat and are not Chinese at all.

They're genuine American.

In fact, when the New York-based Wonton Food Company introduced the cookies to China in the 1990's, they were marketed as "Genuine American Fortune Cookies".

So how did it come about that they are served along with Chinese meals in North America? I suspect it's just more marketing.

Marketing and the profit motive are responsible for a lot of the popularity of cookies. Just look at Famous Amos who gave away cookies to publicize his brand.

And where would the chocolate chip cookie stand without Hershey? The Keebler Elves are another case in point.

Fortune Cookie History

There's some controversy over how these cookies first came about but I'd place my bet that the popularity of the cookie was because of the marketing efforts of David Jung.

David was a Los Angeles baker and restaurateur and began making cookies with thin slips of paper inside sometime around 1920.

Just as Famous Amos did he handed out these cookies, which contained words of encouragement, to people on the streets.

His gesture might have been perceived as an act of kindness but in my opinion it was a marketing test because he later founded the Hong Kong Noodle Company and started producing the cookies at the rate 3,000 per hour.

Now where was he going to sell all those cookies?

Chinese restaurants of course!

I'm satisfied that David is responsible for the cookies popularity, but was he really the first to include a message inside a cookie?

Not according to the Court of Historical Reviews and Appeals, a San Francisco mock court. They ruled in 1983 that San Francisco is the rightful "fortune cookie capital of the world".

Their decision was based on the fact that Makota Hagiwara created cookies bearing thank you notes, which helped him in a dispute with the Los Angeles mayor.

He supposedly displayed his creation at the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exhibition held in San Francisco and in my opinion this won him the hometown decision.

Then there's another story.

Back in the 13th century the Mongols occupied china and the Chinese planned an uprising. Supposedly the date of the uprising was passed around with messages inside moon cakes.

The revolution was a success and the Ming dynasty was formed.

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.

I guess when the bottom line is drawn it doesn't really matter who first made the cookies.

The fact of the matter is fortune cookies are easy to make, loads of fun and downright good tasting too.

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