Fortune Cookie History

Fortune Cookie History

The history of the fortune cookie is a contentious one. It is known that the cookie originated in California, but not much other detail has emerged. There are a few thoughts on the subject.

1. A Chinese immigrant, David Jung, living in Los Angeles and founder of the Hong Kong Noodle Company invented the fortune cookie in 1918. The story goes that David Jung was concerned with all the poor he saw in the streets near his shop. So he created a cookie to pass out to them for free. Each cookie contained an inspirational verse written by the local Presbyterian minister.
2. A Japanese immigrant named Makoto Hagiwara, the designer of the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, invented the fortune cookie in San Francisco in 1914. Makoto was fired by an anti-Japanese mayor of the time and suffered much hardship until a later mayor reinstated him. Being thankful to those who had stood by him during this time he created a cookie that contained a “thank-you” note. These became very popular and in 1915 were displayed at World’s Fair in San Francisco.
3. In the 13th and 14th Centuries, China was occupied by the Mongols. Chu Yuan Chang, a patriotic revolutionary of the time, made plans for an uprising against the Mongols. In order to instruct all the Chinese of the date of the uprising, messages were hidden in ‘Moon Cakes’. Moon Cakes contained a ‘yolk’ of Lotus Paste which the Mongols did not appreciate so this yolk was replaced with rice paper messages. The uprising was successful and the Ming Dynasty was born. A tradition of giving cakes with messages was born and the Moon Festival regularly celebrated. Some think that this legend is what inspired the Chinese 49’ers who worked on the construction the railways. At Moon Festival time they did not have any moon cakes but only biscuits, so out of necessity they improvised and the Fortune Cookie was born.