"Ordering a takeaway meal from a Chinese-American restaurant comes with certain expectations. The meal will be packaged in those little cardboard cartons, it will probably include egg rolls or another fried appetizer, and for each entree in the bag there will also be a crisp little vanilla cookie hiding a secret note. Fortune cookies are a quintessential part of the Chinese food experience, not just in the U.S., but around the world."
"These days, most of the world's fortune cookies come from one company in New York City, where they are produced by machines. With the mechanization of the process, it is easy to see how the history and the human touch of these cookies could be lost. But culinary historians have tracked things back and shown that the modern fortune cookie actually comes from Japan - for the most part."
"In Japan there is a cracker called tsujiura senbei that can be either sweet or savory, often flavored with miso and sesame. The cracker is made by pouring a thin batter into an iron press similar to a waffle iron and then heating it over a fire. Just after cooking, the cracker remains pliable and can easily be folded - the secret to how fortune cookies are made as well."
Fortune cookies accompany Chinese-American takeout, often packaged with entrees and containing a small vanilla cookie with a secret note. The cookies are globally associated with Chinese-American dining yet do not originate from China. Most modern fortune cookies are produced by a single New York City company using machines, leading to mechanized mass production. The modern cookie derives primarily from Japanese tsujiura senbei, a larger, often miso- and sesame-flavored cracker made in an iron press, folded while pliable and served with a tucked fortune. The American version is smaller, sweeter, and became integrated into Chinese-American cuisine through adaptation and production.
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