New information has been surfacing about fortune cookies that places their origins outside of China and in 19th-century Japan.
Mid-1800s Japan
The fortune cookie is considered to have originated in Japan. It's earliest appearance is in a fictional work by Edo period writer Tamenaga Shunsui (Sasaki Sadataka), who lived from 1790 to 1844. In the book, a woman sends fortune cookies to two women as a conciliatory gesture.
1878 Japan
Moshiogusa Kinsei Kidan is a book of children's stories dating to 1878. In the book there is a tale of an apprentice at a senbei, or fortune cookie, shop. The story is accompanied by an illustration of the shopkeeper grilling the moon-shaped cookies over coals.
San Francisco, 1890s
A Japanese immigrant, Makoto Hagiwara, popularized the fortune cookie in San Francisco when he and a partner began making the "tea cakes" at a bakery and serving them at the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park.
Fortune cookies and WWII, 1940s
Soldiers and military personnel passing through California on their way to or from combat ate at the numerous Chinese restaurants in California that served fortune cookies. When they returned to their homes in other regions of the United States, they requested the cookies at their local Chinese restaurants.
1950s and Beyond
It is estimated that by 1950, 250 million fortune cookies were being produced in U.S. bakeries and factories. Since then, the fortune cookie has become a standard "Chinese dessert" worldwide.
Tags: fortune cookie, Chinese restaurants, fortune cookies, fortune cookies
