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The Truth About The Fortunes Found Inside Fortune Cookies

All of my fortune cookie questions answered

Jamie Kerner
Jan 02, 2017
University of Maryland College Park
791
The Truth About The Fortunes Found Inside Fortune Cookies
Huffington Post

Just like most people around the world, I spent Christmas day with my family. However, my Christmas was not filled with presents from Santa Claus or sitting around a tree. Instead, like a typical cliché American Jew, I spent December 25 indulging in the unwritten Christmas Day tradition of watching movies and eating Chinese food.

After my family finished our meal full of wonton soup, sesame chicken, and fried rice, we all sat around our kitchen table and opened our fortune cookies together. We then proceeded to read our fortunes aloud to each other, as we always do. Cracking open the fortune cookie and reading that tiny slip of white paper that rests inside the treat happens to be my favorite part of the meal.

This year, in particular, I noticed that none of the "fortunes" from our cookies told us anything about our future. Rather, each cookie provided us with some random quote, that meant nothing to us. I realized that it was very common to not receive a true fortune or prophecy from a fortune cookie.

These post-meal treats are called fortune cookies but yet no kind of fortune or prophecy is told. I expect to find out something about future (like maybe what my future career will eventually be or if I will EVER meet Hamilton's Lin-Manuel Miranda). Instead, all that is given to me is some quote (mine from my Christmas dinner said "All things are difficult before they are easy."

This got me thinking. Why is the cookie called a fortune cookie if no fortune is provided? I did a little research, and though I did not find out the exact answer to my question, I did learn a little bit about the man who writes the fortune (A special shoutout to CNN for providing me with some answers).

Meet Donald Lau, the chief Financial Officer at Wonton Food Company, as well as the unofficial CFW (Chief Fortune Writer). This essentially makes him the guy responsible for writing fortunes.

Wonton Food Company is the largest fortune cookie manufacturer in the world. Since the company has acquired fortune cookie factories 30 years ago, Lau has been the one and only hire in regards to fortune writer. He actually was given this job by default, as he spoke the best English.

In his earlier days, Lau used to write two to three new fortunes, or axioms, a day. Now, due to writer's block, Lau only tends to write two to three new fortunes a month. These fortunes that Lau creates are drawn from all aspects of life that bring him inspiration.

Lau admits that he does not think of himself as a fortune teller. He says, "I don't think fortune cookies are meant to be like a horoscope. It's a way to end a meal in a Chinese restaurant and be happy when you leave." With that being said, I think I need to stop giving too much thought on the legitimacy of the fortune from my cookie, and just enjoy the nice end-of-meal treat!

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