The Surprising Origin of the Fortune Cookie

When people finish a meal at a Chinese restaurant in North America, they are often presented with a small, crisp, folded cookie containing a tiny slip of paper. These papers usually display a short message of wisdom, a prediction for the future, or a list of lucky numbers. Because of where they are served, many people assume that fortune cookies originated in ancient China. However, this popular treat is actually an American invention with deep roots in California.

Historical evidence points to the early twentieth century as the true beginning of the fortune cookie, with two major California cities claiming its creation. In San Francisco, Makoto Hagiwara, a Japanese immigrant who managed the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park, served a similar folded cracker as early as the 1890s. Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, David Jung, a Chinese immigrant and founder of the Hong Kong Noodle Company, claimed he invented the cookie in 1918 to comfort unemployed workers. While historians still debate who produced the first official version, both candidate stories lead back to California rather than East Asia.