Nearly
every Chinese restaurant in the United States offers fortune cookies and they
almost become a symbol of Chinese food. However, I have never seen any fortune
cookies in China. So I decided to do some researches on fortune cookies to
figure out why they could gain such a great success in the U.S.
The Origin
and History
The
origin and history of the fortune cookie have been debated over centuries. One
story suggests that it was invented by David Jung, a Los Angeles baker, who
first gave out cookies containing optimistic words to poor and homeless people
as an encouragement after World War I. Later he started the Hong Kong Noodle
Company to produce cookies with fortune inside (Mariani 132). Another story
indicates that the fortune cookie actually originated from Japan and was
introduced in the U.S. by Japanese landscape architect Makoto Hagiwara who
immigrated to San Francisco at the end of nineteenth century (Lee, “Solving a
Riddle”). Though various stories reveal different possible origins of the
fortune cookie, these stories all agree that the fortune cookie emerged in
California in early twentieth century and was popularized by Americanized
Chinese restaurants there in the 1930s as a dessert after dinner.
However, unlike western dinners, Chinese dinners
always start with cold appetizers and end up with hot soup. Sometimes, hosts
would offer hot green tea or fresh fruit after the meal, but there is no such
concept as dessert in traditional Chinese dining etiquette. Although the
sweetness and crunchiness of the fortune cookie make it a perfect snack that
most Americans long for after meals, Chinese people would regard the serving of
fortune cookies as a redundant step after a complete feast.
The Fortunes
Many people love fortune cookies solely because of the fortunes that hide inside the cookies. Most people also believe that these fortunes are ancient Chinese wisdom.
However fortunes cookie messages, as Miike and Yin reveal in their research paper A Textual Analysis of Fortune Cookie: How Chinese Are They, “are indeed cultural texts” that reflect American dreams (3). According to Miike and Yin, among all the functions of the fortunes, “the first and predominant one is prophecy” and these prophecies are most commonly related to money and fame (4). However, monetary success is not something that would be praised by traditional Chinese culture. Under the influence of Confucianism, traditional Chinese people believe that one should pursue moral perfection rather than material benefits. (Lu, “An Interface”) Since the fame in fortune cookie sayings is often depicted as a by-product of money (Miike and Yin 8) a fortune that directly indicates a person would soon become wealth and famous would not be appreciated by people who hold traditional Chinese value, which relates immediately gain of money and recognition to declining of virtue.
The origin of the cookies and the fortunes inside the cookies along with many other evidences lead me to my conclusion that
It is the strong association with American culture rather than the oriental heritage that allows fortune cookies gain such a huge success in the United States.
I love fortune cookies! Thank you for posting about their history.
ReplyDeleteThis was fascinating. I'd love to get a hold of your research paper. I shouldn't have been surprised that the fortune cookie was an American creation, but I thought for sure it would have had some roots in Chinese tradition or culture. It's also interesting how both the cookie and the messages they bear have little place in Chinese dining tradition and actually conflict with traditional moral values/teachings.
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