Los Angeles Fortune Cookies
Jung is thought to have popularized the fortune cookie in 1918. Several versions of his story exist, including one that states he used to fill these folded desserts with scripture and pass them out to unemployed men. Another version claims he invented the treats as appetizers to calm hungry patrons who were waiting for their entrées.
San Francisco Fortune Cookies
But others credit Hagiwara with popularizing the fortune cookie in 1909, when he was working in Golden Gate Park’s Japanese Tea Garden. It is said that he purchased these cookies from the local Benkyodo bakery and gave them to the garden’s visitors as a way of thanking them for coming. But another version of the story asserts that Hagiwara was fired in 1907 for being of Japanese descent but then was rehired, and as a token of gratitude, he gifted fortune cookies with thank-you notes inside to his supporters.
While it is still unclear who invented the fortune cookie—even after a Court of Historical Review ruling favored San Francisco as the creator—both Los Angeles’ Fugetsu-Do and San Francisco’s Benkyodo have discovered the original “kata” black-iron grills, which look astonishingly like the ones used by Kyoto bakeries to make fortune cookie–like desserts for centuries.
Regardless of the fortune cookie’s true origin, its popularity undoubtedly grew out of California, turning the treat into a true staple by the 1960s. Though the tasty desserts did not actually originate in China, there is something so comforting and satisfying about breaking open one of those bad boys after a filling meal of Chinese food. So, bring on the wise advice, encouraging phrases, and rare fortunes in our cookies.