Now, you might think with a title like this that the following story took place hundreds of years ago in China, but you would be wrong. The Fortune Cookie isn't really Chinese at all, it started right here in the USA, actually in California.
There are two versions of who invented the cookie. One claims a Chinese immigrant living in Los Angeles named David Jung, founder of the Hong Kong Noodle Company, invented the cookie in 1918. He worried about the poor, so he made the cookies, put a bible verse in the middle, and handed them out to hungry people on the streets of LA.
Another version says a Japanese immigrant named Makoto Hagiwara invented the cookies. He was a gardener and designed the famous Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park. He was fired from his job because of anti Japanese sentiments, but later rehired by a new mayor. The story says that in appreciation Mr. Hagiwara made cookies with thank you notes inside and passed them out at the Tea Garden.
In 1983 a trial was held at the Court of Historical Review in San Francisco to decide who really invented the fortune cookie. The Judge ruled in favor of Makoto Hagiwara, from San Francisco, which wasn't suprising because the jugde was also from San Francisco. One piece of evidence in the trial was a fortune cookie with the message, "S.F. Judge who rules for L.A. Not Very Smart Cookie."
By the way, I found this information in an article written by Borgna Brunner called "The History of the Fortune Cookie", and if you'd like more information you can go to The History of the Fortune Cookie — Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/spot/fortunecookies.html#ixzz1kIhTiMsF
Have fun.
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