{"id":26269,"date":"2017-10-24T12:31:54","date_gmt":"2017-10-24T16:31:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=26269"},"modified":"2021-04-19T09:51:09","modified_gmt":"2021-04-19T13:51:09","slug":"fortune-cookies-as-american-as-apple-pie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/fortune-cookies-as-american-as-apple-pie.html","title":{"rendered":"Fortune Cookies: As American as Apple Pie?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/em><\/strong>: In this article, Gena Philibert-Ortega searches old newspapers to learn about the origin of Chinese fortune cookies \u2013 discovering that they are not Chinese at all, but an American innovation based on Japanese traditions. She includes some fortune cookie recipes. Gena is a genealogist and author of the book \u201cFrom the Family Kitchen.<\/span>\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Fortune cookies are as American as\u2026 well, apple pie. These bite-sized conclusions to a Chinese dinner are known for their wise (or not so wise) words to diners. So associated with the Chinese restaurant experience that they are even the object of jokes, fortune cookies have an interesting history \u2013 some of which you can find in the newspapers.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Oregonian (Portland, Oregon), 5 August 1961, page 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A History of the Fortune Cookie<\/strong><\/p>\n

Along with some other not so \u201ctraditional\u201d Chinese foods, fortune cookies are not Chinese. Cookbook author Irene Kuo, who in the 1960s and 1970s was instrumental in promoting Chinese food in the United States, is interviewed in this 1966 newspaper article saying of the famous cookie\u2019s origins:<\/p>\n

\u201cI think fortune cookies were invented by a very smart American\u2026 Until I came here, I had never seen a fortune cookie. In China, we are not dessert eaters. Our desserts were mostly fruit but not pineapple or kumquats. One would not find at the end of a meal something similar to your cake or pie. We would have such food at tea time.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"An<\/a>
Lexington Leader (Lexington, Kentucky), 18 April 1966, page 25<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So, if fortune cookies are not Chinese \u2013 what are their origins? As a matter of fact, they have a Japanese origin by way of California! There are several claims to who the originator of the fortune cookie was.<\/p>\n

One story credits Suyeichi Okamura, a Japanese immigrant who supplied fortune cookies to a San Francisco Japanese Tea Garden in 1906. Fortune cookies are a regional delicacy in Japan and are made with special molds that can be customized with initials, logos, or designs. Okamura continued making fortune cookies until World War II, when Japanese-Americans residing in California were forced to relocate to internment camps. It was then that Chinese businessmen started making the popular cookies.*<\/p>\n

Recipes<\/strong><\/p>\n

In my opinion, fortune cookies are easier bought than made, but there are those more creative cooks who want to try their hand at the making, folding, and fortune writing that is required. This 1959 recipe, courtesy of a newspaper reader who lived in Hawaii, includes a surprising cookie ingredient: oats. Mrs. Dillon M. Pyron includes with the recipe a story of how she acquired it.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Springfield Union (Springfield, Massachusetts), 5 February 1959, page 24<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A<\/a>
Springfield Union (Springfield, Massachusetts), 5 February 1959, page 24<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This 1968 recipe provides not only ingredients and cooking instructions, but illustrations for folding the fortune cookie. The \u201cdelicate, exotic flavor\u201d that these cookies supposedly have most likely comes from the instant tea powder added to the dough.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Arkansas Gazette (Little Rock, Arkansas), 5 December 1968, page 47<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A<\/a>
Arkansas Gazette (Little Rock, Arkansas), 5 December 1968, page 47<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A<\/a>
Arkansas Gazette (Little Rock, Arkansas), 5 December 1968, page 47<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Recipes sometimes change over time, and in the case of the fortune cookie, the list of ingredients became fewer \u2013 but that isn\u2019t the only thing that changed. The fortunes themselves have changed over the generations to match current society moir\u00e9s. Fortunes are a product of their time, and today\u2019s fortune cookie writers are busy writing fortunes that appeal to today\u2019s generation.<\/p>\n

This 1987 newspaper article points out that sexist jokes or instructions to kiss your waitress were out and fortunes involving travel and adventure were in.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Arkansas Gazette (Little Rock, Arkansas), 15 July 1987, page 41<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Fast forward to 2017 and the fortune cookies I recently bought reflect today\u2019s world, with mentions of email, travel, stress relief, and how to be more efficient at work \u2013 as well as lucky lottery numbers.<\/p>\n

May Your Fortune Come True<\/strong><\/p>\n

While your cookie fortune is unlikely to come true, they are still a fun way to end a meal. Do you have any fortune cookie stories? Have you tried to make fortune cookies at home? Tell us about it in the comments section below.<\/p>\n

———————-<\/p>\n

* \u201cOrigins of a Fortune Cookie,\u201d Smithsonian (http:\/\/americanhistory.si.edu\/blog\/2010\/07\/origins-of-a-fortune-cookie.html<\/a> : accessed 2 September 2017).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An article (complete with recipes) about Chinese fortune cookies \u2013 which are not Chinese at all, but an American innovation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":26305,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12427],"tags":[19013,22357,2191,2020],"class_list":["post-26269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food-recipes","tag-food-and-recipes","tag-fortune-cookies","tag-history","tag-newspaper-archives"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/photo-1024-2017-featured-graphic-fortune-cookies.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26269"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26269\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66759,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26269\/revisions\/66759"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}