Editing Fortune cookie (section)

== History ==
[[File:Fortune Cookie 1878.jpg|thumbnail|Baking ''Tsujiura Senbei'', or Japanese fortune cookies, in the Edo period (1603–1868), from a book written in 1878]]
[[File:fortune cookie broken 20040628 223252 1.jpg|thumb|right|An opened fortune cookie]]
As far back as the 19th century, a cookie very similar in appearance to the modern fortune cookie was made in [[Kyoto, Japan]], and there is a Japanese temple tradition of random fortunes, called [[omikuji]]. The Japanese version of the cookie differs in several ways: they are a little bit larger; are made of darker dough; and their batter contains sesame and miso rather than vanilla and butter. They contain a fortune; however, the small slip of paper was wedged into the bend of the cookie rather than placed inside the hollow portion. This kind of cookie is called {{Nihongo||辻占煎餅|[[tsujiura]] senbei}} and is still sold in some regions of Japan, especially in [[Kanazawa, Ishikawa]].<ref name=solving>{{cite news|last=Lee|first=Jennifer|date=January 16, 2008|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/16/dining/16fort.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all|title=Solving a Riddle Wrapped in a Mystery Inside a Cookie|access-date=May 10, 2012}}</ref> It is also sold in the neighborhood of [[Fushimi Inari-taisha]] shrine in Kyoto.<ref name="reallyjapan">{{cite web |title=Fortune Cookies are really from Japan. |url=http://www.fortunecookiechronicles.com/2008/01/16/fortune-cookies-are-really-from-japan/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725122139/http://www.fortunecookiechronicles.com/2008/01/16/fortune-cookies-are-really-from-japan/ |archive-date=July 25, 2011 |author-link=Jennifer 8. Lee |first=Jennifer 8. |last=Lee |date=January 16, 2008 |work=[[The Fortune Cookie Chronicles]] website}}</ref>

[[Makoto Hagiwara]] of [[Golden Gate Park]]'s [[Japanese tea garden at Golden Gate Park|Japanese Tea Garden]] in [[San Francisco]] is reported to have been the first person in the U.S. to have served the modern version of the cookie when he did so at the tea garden in the early 1900s. The fortune cookies were made by a San Francisco bakery, Benkyodo.<ref name=Nagata>{{cite web |last=Nagata |first=Erik |title=A Brief History of The Fortune Cookie |url=http://www.hanascape.com/aboutus/fortunecookie/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080820002056/http://www.hanascape.com/aboutus/fortunecookie/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 20, 2008 }}</ref><ref name=Ono>{{cite web|last=Ono|first=Gary|title=Japanese American Fortune Cookie: A Taste of Fame or Fortune -- Part II|url=http://www.discovernikkei.org/forum/en/node/1935|date=October 31, 2007|access-date=April 5, 2008|archive-date=April 4, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090404074145/http://www.discovernikkei.org/forum/en/node/1935|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Martin_2004_8">{{Harv|Martin|2004}}</ref>

David Jung, founder of the [[Hong Kong Noodle Company]] in [[Los Angeles]], made a competing claim that he invented the cookie in 1918.<ref name="Brunner_2005_5">{{Harv|Brunner|2005}}.</ref> San Francisco's [[Court of Historical Review]] attempted to settle the dispute in 1983. During the proceedings, a fortune cookie was introduced as a piece of evidence with a message reading, "S.F. Judge who rules for L.A. Not Very Smart Cookie". A federal judge of the Court of Historical Review, from San Francisco themselves, determined that the cookie originated with Hagiwara and the court ruled in favor of San Francisco. Subsequently, the city of Los Angeles condemned the decision.<ref name="Brunner_2005_5" />

Seiichi Kito, the founder of Fugetsu-do of [[Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, California|Little Tokyo]] in Los Angeles, also claims to have invented the cookie. Kito claims to have gotten the idea of putting a message in a cookie from [[Omikuji]] (fortune slip) which are sold at temples and shrines in Japan. According to his story, he sold his cookies to Chinese restaurants where they were greeted with much enthusiasm in both the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas, before spreading.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.fugetsu-do.com/history.htm|title=History of Fugetsu-Do|website=www.fugetsu-do.com|access-date=May 30, 2017}}</ref>

Up to around [[World War II]], fortune cookies were known as "fortune tea cakes"—likely reflecting their origins in Japanese tea cakes.<ref name=solving />

Fortune cookies moved from being a confection dominated by Japanese-Americans to one dominated by Chinese-Americans sometime around World War II. One theory for why this occurred is because of the [[Japanese American internment]] during World War II, which forcibly put over 100,000 Japanese-Americans in internment camps, including those who had produced fortune cookies. This gave an opportunity for Chinese manufacturers.<ref name=solving />

[[File:Negative fortune cookie.jpg|thumb|right|Unusual negative prediction found in a fortune cookie]]
Fortune cookies before the early 20th century were all made by hand. Fortune cookies are made from a simple batter of sugar, flour, water, and eggs. When heated, the dough stays flexible, allowing it to be shaped. As it cools, the sugar crystallizes, creating a crisp, glossy cookie. Traditionally, bakers would bake 3-inch circles of dough, insert a fortune while still warm, and use chopsticks to fold the cookie into its iconic shape before it hardened.<ref>{{Cite web |title=How do fortunes get inside of fortune cookies? |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/how-do-fortunes-get-inside-fortune-cookies/ |access-date=2024-08-12 |website=Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA}}</ref> The fortune cookie industry changed dramatically after the fortune cookie machine was invented by Edward Louie in the late 1960s.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1990-05-30-9002130867-story.html | title=Edward Louie, 69, Inventor of Fortune-Cookie Machine | website=[[Chicago Tribune]] | date=May 30, 1990 }}</ref> The machine allowed for mass production of fortune cookies which subsequently allowed the cookies to drop in price to become the novelty and courtesy dessert many Americans are familiar with after their meals at most Chinese restaurants today.