If you've ever finished a meal at a Chinese restaurant in the United States, you've likely cracked open a crisp, golden fortune cookie to reveal a vague prophecy or a lucky number. It's a ritual as American as apple pie — and, as it turns out, just about as Chinese as apple pie, too.
This is a question we get asked frequently at Fortune Cookie AI: "Are fortune cookies actually Chinese?" The short answer is no. The longer answer is a fascinating story that involves Japanese temples, Californian immigrants, a mock trial, World War II internment camps, and a cultural transfer that most people don't know happened. We've dug deep into this history, and here's what we found.
The Japanese Connection: Tsujiura Senbei
The direct ancestor of the modern fortune cookie is a Japanese cracker called tsujiura senbei (辻占煎餅), which translates roughly to "fortune cracker." These crackers have been made in Kyoto, Japan, since at least the 19th century — decades before any fortune cookie appeared in America.
The key historical evidence comes from Japanese folklorist Yasuko Nakamachi, who spent years tracing the fortune cookie's lineage across continents. Nakamachi discovered illustrations of bakeries making tsujiura senbei in Moshiogusa Kinsei Kidan, a Japanese book of stories published in 1878. The illustrations clearly depict the folded cracker shape and the fortune slip inside — proving the concept existed in Japan long before its American debut.
How the Original Differed from Today's Cookie
The differences between the Japanese original and the modern American version are striking:
| Feature | Japanese Tsujiura Senbei | American Fortune Cookie |
|---------|-------------------------|------------------------|
| Color | Dark brown | Golden yellow |
| Flavor | Sesame and miso | Vanilla and butter |
| Size | Larger (about 10cm) | Smaller (about 7cm) |
| Fortune placement | Wedged into the fold | Enclosed in the hollow center |
| Where sold | Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples | Chinese restaurants |
| Fortune content | Poetic verses, spiritual advice (omikuji-style) | Predictions, aphorisms, lucky numbers |
In Japan, these crackers were part of a spiritual tradition. The "fortunes" inside were similar to omikuji — the fortune slips that Japanese temple visitors still draw today. You'd buy a cracker at a shrine, crack it open, and receive guidance that was understood as part of a religious or cultural practice, not a restaurant gimmick.
Several bakeries in Kyoto still make traditional tsujiura senbei today, including shops in the Fushimi Inari area. If you've ever visited the famous orange torii gates and noticed vendors selling dark, sesame-flavored crackers with paper inside, you've seen the fortune cookie's ancestor with your own eyes.
The California Connection: Japanese Immigrants Bring a Tradition West
Japanese immigrants began arriving in California in significant numbers during the late 1800s and early 1900s. Among the cultural traditions they brought was the practice of serving senbei-style crackers — including the fortune-bearing variety.
This is where the story gets contested. Two cities, two claimants, and a debate that's been argued for over a century.
San Francisco: Makoto Hagiwara (c. 1914)
Makoto Hagiwara was a Japanese immigrant who designed and managed the Japanese Tea Garden in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park — a landmark that still exists today. According to family members and historical accounts compiled by journalist Jennifer 8. Lee in The Fortune Cookie Chronicles (2008), Hagiwara served fortune cookies at the Tea Garden as early as 1914.
The backstory adds color: Hagiwara had been fired by an anti-Japanese mayor and later reinstated. Some accounts suggest he created a modified version of the Japanese cracker with thank-you notes inside to express gratitude to those who supported him during that period. The cookies were reportedly made by the Benkyodo bakery in San Francisco's Japantown — a bakery that still operates today, though they stopped making fortune cookies in 2022 after more than 100 years.
Los Angeles: David Jung (c. 1918)
David Jung, a Chinese immigrant and founder of the Hong Kong Noodle Company in Los Angeles, claimed to have invented the fortune cookie around 1918. His version of the story is different: concerned about the unemployed and homeless near his factory, he created cookies with inspirational messages — reportedly written by a local Presbyterian minister — to hand out on the streets.
Jung's claim is significant because it represents the first known instance of a Chinese American producing fortune cookies, which may explain how the association between Chinese food and fortune cookies began.
The Mock Trial of 1983
The rivalry became so heated that San Francisco held a formal — well, semi-formal — proceeding to settle it. In 1983, the Court of Historical Review (a real San Francisco institution that conducts mock trials on historical disputes) convened a hearing presided over by Federal Judge Daniel M. Hanlon.
Both sides presented evidence. The San Francisco delegation cited the Japanese Tea Garden's long history and the Benkyodo bakery connection. The Los Angeles delegation argued for David Jung's earlier documented claim.
The judge ruled in favor of San Francisco and Makoto Hagiwara. The losing side reportedly produced a fortune cookie that read: "S.F. Judge Who Rules for S.F. Not Very Smart Cookie."
While the ruling has no legal weight, it highlighted a crucial point that both sides actually agree on: the fortune cookie originated with Japanese immigrants, not Chinese ones. The debate is about which city deserves credit, not which culture.
The WWII Turning Point: How a Japanese Tradition Became "Chinese"
This is the most historically significant — and somber — part of the story.
On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which led to the forced internment of approximately 120,000 Japanese Americans — two-thirds of whom were U.S. citizens. Families were given days to sell their possessions and report to assembly centers before being transported to remote internment camps.
The Japanese-American bakeries that had been producing fortune cookies — including businesses in San Francisco's Japantown and Los Angeles' Little Tokyo — were shuttered overnight. The bakers were gone.
Chinese-American entrepreneurs, who were not subject to internment (China was a U.S. ally in the war), saw the gap and stepped in. They adapted the cookie — making it lighter in color, switching from sesame/miso to a vanilla/butter recipe, and mass-producing them for the growing Chinese restaurant industry.
By the time Japanese Americans were released from internment camps in 1945 and 1946, the transformation was complete. The fortune cookie was already firmly established as a "Chinese restaurant" tradition in the American consciousness.
As Jennifer 8. Lee noted: the fortune cookie is "Chinese in the way that Taco Bell is Mexican" — an American invention that borrowed from one culture and was commercialized by another.
A Global Phenomenon (Except in China)
Today, approximately 3 billion fortune cookies are produced annually, with the vast majority consumed in the United States. They've spread to Canada, the UK, Australia, and parts of Europe, generally following the footprint of Chinese-American restaurant culture.
But in China itself? Fortune cookies are virtually unknown.
When Wonton Food Inc. — the world's largest fortune cookie manufacturer, based in Long Island City, New York — attempted to introduce them to the Chinese market in the 1990s, the venture failed. Chinese consumers found the concept puzzling and the taste too sweet. The reaction was essentially: "Why would I eat a dessert with paper inside?"
This irony isn't lost on food historians. The fortune cookie's journey — from Japanese temples to American Chinese restaurants to attempted reimport to China — is one of the most convoluted paths in culinary history.
What Fortune Cookies Tell Us About Cultural Identity
The fortune cookie story isn't just food history — it's a case study in how cultural products evolve through immigration, war, and commercialization. A few observations:
1. Cultural origins are rarely clean. Almost no food tradition has a single, clear inventor. Fortune cookies emerged from a blend of Japanese craftsmanship, Chinese-American entrepreneurship, and American consumer culture. Trying to assign credit to one person or culture misses the point.
2. Wartime displacement reshapes culture. The internment of Japanese Americans didn't just disrupt lives — it severed cultural continuities. The fact that most Americans today associate fortune cookies with Chinese culture is a direct consequence of Executive Order 9066.
3. Food adapts to its audience. The shift from dark, savory tsujiura senbei to light, sweet vanilla cookies mirrors the broader pattern of immigrant foods being modified for American palates — from Italian-American red sauce to Tex-Mex to General Tso's chicken.
Key Takeaway
Fortune cookies are not Chinese. They're a Japanese-American creation that was adopted by Chinese-American entrepreneurs during WWII and became a global symbol of Chinese-American dining. Understanding this history doesn't diminish the fortune cookie — it makes it more interesting. It's a tiny, crunchy artifact that carries the weight of immigration, war, cultural exchange, and the distinctly American talent for remixing traditions into something new.
The next time you crack one open, you're not just reading a fortune — you're participating in over 140 years of cross-Pacific cultural history.
Further Reading:
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