The Fortune Cookie Incident

My friend John, who lives in a suburb of Tacoma Washington, wrote me today to suggest I write about fortune cookies. Thanks for the suggestion John. After five plus years of writing the Observer I need all the help I can get. What got John interested in the subject stems from his recent lunch with a customer at a Chinese buffet. Like most of us, I’m sure John looked forward to getting his fortune cookie along with the bill at the end of the meal. Much to his chagrin however, both fortune cookies contained typos! As Barry McGuire sang, surely we’re on the eve of destruction now. One fortune read, “Good things are coming to you in due of time.” The other one said, “Watch your relations without other people carefully, he reserved.” There is an extra word in the first fortune and two wrong words in the second one, embarrassing I know. John probably felt if the Chinese, whose century may be upon us, are getting sloppy, perhaps everything is lost. He went on to question why we should assume that the Chinese are so knowledgeable. Even if the fortunes are spelled right they tend to be vague. And the cookie itself is by no means a better dessert than say, chocolate ice cream, not to mention chocolate pudding. I’m sure a few of you are way ahead of me here. The Chinese fortune cookie is an American invention. The Chinese don’t even serve or eat them in China. In fact, twenty years ago attempts were made to sell fortune cookies in China but the concept was rejected as too American. According to Wikipedia there are approximately 3 billion fortune cookies made each year, most of them consumed right here in the good old USA. The largest manufacturer of the cookies is Wonton Food Inc., headquartered in Brooklyn. Not that any of this should spoil the fun of breaking open a fortune cookie and reading the slip of paper tucked inside. Just for that moment, don’t we all secretly hope we are about to be treated to a useful insight that changes our life’s direction or a prediction that we are about to enjoy unparalleled success, unbridled joy or unlimited power? Yes, the actual fortune is often trite and disappointing but so what? The delicious anticipation, however brief or mindless it may be, keeps us coming back for more. Admit it, when the waiter left an extra cookie the last time you were at your favorite Chinese restaurant, you seized it before anyone else could act on the impulse and treated yourself to an extra banality, didn’t you? And never mind the fortune, should you actually eat the fortune cookie? There is a healthy debate about whether one should eat the whole cookie, part of the cookie or not eat it at all. Is it okay to pick your own cookie? Should you ever touch someone else’s fortune cookie? Do you eat the cookie first or read the fortune first? There don’t appear to be any hard and fast rules about these matters but there are lots of opinions. Eating the whole cookie might be necessary if you want your fortune to come true, for example. On the other hand, eating any part of the cookie or too little or too much of the cookie, could mean a wasted fortune. Some people believe you have to get the tiny slip of paper out without breaking the cookie or you won’t get that promotion the fortune promised. I can’t imagine how people with thick fingers would have any chance to benefit from ancient wisdom if that’s the rule. It’s hard enough to manage a pair of chopsticks. Of course if I find a way to get the fortune out using chopsticks would my good fortune multiply? It’s exhausting just thinking about these things. I wish those Chinese-American fortunes my friend John got the other day, probably printed and stuffed in the exotic Far East location of Brooklyn, had been checked more carefully by the quality assurance staff. In my research though, I did find one Chinese fortune I liked. I hope John gets it the next time he dines at his favorite Chinese buffet: You should pay for this check…be generous. Copyright Len Serafino, 2012. All rights reserved.