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Information on Chinese Fortune Cookies

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Information on Chinese Fortune Cookies

Chinese fortune cookies are not, in fact, Chinese. They are an American invention, most likely having been developed in California as a modification of a similarly shaped Japanese cookie. Does this Spark an idea?

  1. Japanese Cookie Roots

    • There is a traditional Japanese cookie with a similar shape. The size, color and flavor of the Japanese cookie is, however, completely different.

    Japanese Random Fortune Tradition

    • The similar Japanese cookie has another similarity. It was used to deliver a random divination. However, as opposed to being inside the cookie, the paper was slipped into the bend in the cookie.

    Tradition of Lots

    • The Japanese tradition of slipping a random fortune into the cookie stems from a pan-Asian tradition of the fates delivering messages through random fortunes, which includes the common Chinese tradition of casting lots.

    Manufacturing

    • Before 1964, the cookies were made by hand using chopsticks. In 1964, Edward Louie of the Lotus Fortune Cookie Co. created a machine to fold the cookies and insert the fortunes.

    Popular Practices

    • Although few people consider the cookies to be genuine oracular devices, it is a common practice to say that the fortune will not come true unless the entire cookie is consumed.

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  • Photo Credit Photo: Linnell Esler, stock.xchng

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