Origins of the Fortune Cookie Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Origins of the Fortune Cookie - Essay Example Increasingly, fortune cookies have been understood as having been introduced by the Japanese, made popular by the Chinese but enjoyed largely by the Americans in the numerous Chinese restaurants in the U.S. all over the world, the cookies are known by their English term â€Å"fortune cookies†.However, there is no consensus on any particular Chinese name for the cookies since the Chinese merely have several literary transitions of the English â€Å"fortune cookie† such as â€Å"good luck lot cookie† or â€Å"fortune words cookie†. Fortune cookies are a major cultural symbol in the American society, inspiring several other products such as fortune-cookie-shaped jewelry and the fortune-cookie-shaped magic 8 ball among others.There are nearly 3 billion fortune cookies manufactured each year, many of which are consumed in the U.S. and the leading manufacturers of the cookies are the Brooklyn-based firm Wonton Food Inc.It is an indubitable fact that America has more Chinese restaurants than McDonald's, Burger King, and Kentucky Fried Chicken outlets, in Lee’s words, which shares insights on the history of Chinese cuisines in the country. In her book, Lee advances the argument that despite popular belief, a vast proportion of what is commonly known as Chinese food is all American and little is known about them back in China.In that respect, it logically follows that common cuisines such as beef with broccoli (an Italian vegetable), egg rolls, General Tso’s chicken, chop suey, and fortune cookies are all American foods.