FORTUNE COOKIE

The Fortune Cookie provides instant, fun, and sometimes motivational messages. Kinda like a fortune cookie.

Click the button below to open your fortune cookie! Each click gives you a new fun prediction or message to brighten your day!

May the fortune be with you...unless it sucks...

Fortune Cookie Disclaimer & History

Things to understand about this Fortune Cookie Tool:
   This fortune cookie is NOT edible.
   Fortunes are not guaranteed. If they were, the only fortune would be "You will inherit billions of dollars!"
   It is not recommended to live by these fortunes. Although, if you do, I highly recommend starting a reality TV series and/or social media stream, recording everything for my amusement.

A Brief History of the Fortune Cookie

Despite being commonly associated with Chinese restaurants in the United States, the fortune cookie did not originate in China. Its roots can be traced back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the United States, with influences from Japanese culture.

Early versions of fortune cookies are believed to have been inspired by Japanese “tsujiura senbei”, traditional crackers that contained fortunes and were sold near temples in Japan. These crackers were slightly larger and darker than modern fortune cookies and were made with miso rather than vanilla.

The modern fortune cookie is widely credited to Japanese immigrants in California. One of the earliest documented examples dates to the early 1900s in San Francisco and Los Angeles, where small bakeries began producing folded cookies with printed messages inside. Several individuals have been credited with popularizing the cookie, including Makoto Hagiwara of the Japanese Tea Garden in San Francisco and David Jung of the Hong Kong Noodle Company in Los Angeles, though the exact origin remains debated.

Fortune cookies became strongly associated with Chinese restaurants during World War II, when Japanese-owned businesses were forced to close due to internment. Chinese restaurants filled the gap and adopted the cookies, which quickly became a familiar end-of-meal tradition across the United States.

Today, fortune cookies are primarily produced in the U.S. and are rarely found in China. They have evolved from simple predictions to include inspirational quotes, jokes, and lucky numbers, becoming a unique example of how cultures can blend and create new traditions.