On the night of March 30, 2005, the Powerball jackpot was 25 million

dollars. The grand prize winner was in Tennessee, but all over the
United States appeared one hundred and ten second-place winners.
Lottery officials were confused, but when they asked the winners how
they picked their numbers each had the same
response: from a fortune cookie.

What we call Chinese food (including fortune cookies) has become an integral part of
the American culture and cuisine. Around the 1850s, Chinese immigrants began to work
in laundries and restaurants: industries that are traditionally associated with women’s work.
“Chinese” restaurants began to appear, but with new dishes designed to appeal to
Americans who tend to want foods that are sweet and fried. The most famous of these faux-
Chinese recipes is Chop Suey. Chop Suey is as American as apple pie, this leads us to
another essential ingredient for Americans: dessert.

The fortune cookie appeared in the United States in the 1920s, but
it was not imported from China. Still, many contemporary cookies
and their fortunes are made by Chinese Americans. It turns out
fortunes are difficult to write, as they must be upbeat, generally
applicable, and, above all, inoffensive. A fortune that
reads, “lighten up,” for example, could be taken as a critique of a
person’s weight.

Still, neither fortunes nor cookies are Chinese in origin. The

woodblock print evidences the cookies originated in Japan.
“Fortune cookies” in Japan are larger, darker and less sweet than
the American fortune cookies. If these snacks are originally
Japanese, why do we eat fortunes with Chinese food? Why not at
1878 Japanese woodblock print discovered by
sushi restaurants? Yasuko Nakamachi of Kanagawa University
via Japan’s National Diet Library
Like the Chinese immigrants before them, many Japanese
immigrants chose to make their living in the food industry. The Japanese also adapted their food to American
tastes, and Japanese families frequently owned, and worked in (American-style) Chinese restaurants, and
ultimately introduced Americanized fortune cookies.

During World War II, many Japanese Americans had to leave their businesses
behind and go to concentration camps. After a four-year period, the concentration
camps closed, but by then, people already thought the source of fortune cookies
was Chinese.

Nowadays, fortune cookies can be found in many countries around the world.
Except in China.

They still don’t eat fortune cookies in China.

Handmade fortune cookies are

formed in a wooden mold via Ko
Sasaki for The New York Times

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