Fortune cookies are often served as
a dessert in Chinese restaurants
in the United States and other countries, but they are not Chinese in origin. The exact origin of fortune cookies is unclear, though various immigrant groups in California claim to have popularized them in the early 20th century.
fortune cookie. noun [ C ] /ˈfɔr·tʃən ˌkʊk·i/
a cookie containing a message
, usually about your future, that you get at Chinese restaurants in the US.
The edible portion of a fortune cookie contains approximately 20 calories in an 8-ounce serving, according to Panda Express. Although the calorie count is not huge, you also forgo consuming a healthy food —
fortune cookies offer little to no nutritional value.
It's called
the “tsujiura senbei,” or “fortune cracker
,” according to Jennifer 8. Lee, author of The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food, which recounts the history of the cookie.
You have to eat the entire cookie in order for
the fortune (that came from the cookie) to come true.
And
at the end of the meal
, you expect to receive a fortune cookie with your check. You'll crack it open, read your “fortune,” (which is usually more of a proverb), eat the cookie, pay your bill, and go on your merry way.
According to Grub Street Boston “empty fortune cookies belong to the lucky”, but according to Wiki Answers “
you may have bad luck for the rest of your life
“. urbandictionary.com shows “empty fortune cookie” as an adjective: 1) impotent, 2) a failure at life.
One theory for why this occurred is because of
the Japanese American internment during World War II
, which forcibly put over 100,000 Japanese-Americans in internment camps, including those who had produced fortune cookies. This gave an opportunity for Chinese manufacturers.
A similar Chinese cookie was likely served at some Chinese restaurants in New York City during this time, and it has been theorized that this was
the inspiration for the Jewish almond cookie
, and was when this cookie was introduced into American Jewish cuisine.
Simply put, they no longer tell fortunes
because the family-run companies that dominate this business cannot keep up with demand
. Yet that doesn't spoil the fun of fortune cookies. Some companies create “adult” messages, and a few allow patrons to create their own fortunes.
- I break the fortune cookie in half and pull it apart.
- I set aside the half that retains the fortune and eat the other half.
- I then read the fortune. If I like it, I eat the remaining half. If not, I discard it.
The Secret Ingredient Is… There's a unique flavor in fortune cookies, and it's from a combination of vanilla and sesame oil.
1 : While the origin of the fortune cookie is a little murky, it is strongly believed to have begun in Japan, not China. 2 : Three billion fortune cookies are made each year around the world and the vast majority of them are used for consumption in the United States. 3 :
The cookies are baked as flat circles
.
It would appear that the lucky numbers are legit lucky: … Maybe the lucky numbers were added into the fortune cookies after
those Powerball wins
. Or, according to Occam's razor, play several thousand lotteries with several thousand combinations, and you'll hit a winner eventually.
This particular fortune cookie factory produces four million cookies per day, and uses 5,000 different fortunes, which means that each fortune printed is going to be duplicated
800 times per day
.
The cookie mix is blended and pumped into a patty-shape mold on hot moving trays. The dough is compressed and cooked for about a minute in an oven.
A machine inserts
the small paper fortunes into each one of the cookies, and then quickly folded to seal the fortune inside.
