# Fortune cookies: delightful treat or throwaway item? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 1, 2014, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fortune-cookies-delightful-treat-or-throwaway-item/706061 "2014-12-01T20:02:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2014, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fortune-cookies-delightful-treat-or-throwaway-item/706061/21 "2014-12-02T09:14:35Z")
I sometimes think some people must have access to some rather tasty cardboard. They’re great, and I lament not being able to eat them anymore. It’s one of those food items where it doesn’t make sense to make your own. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2014, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fortune-cookies-delightful-treat-or-throwaway-item/706061/22 "2014-12-02T15:03:04Z")
There’s nothing wrong with the cookie, usually (for example the ones from Panda Express are _terrible_), I guess I’m just over it. I toss 'em. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2014, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fortune-cookies-delightful-treat-or-throwaway-item/706061/23 "2014-12-02T16:56:33Z")
Celtling and I both love them. It’s one of the few foods where I see that glint of animal greed hit her eye when they arrive at the table. Like me with lobster. LoL! ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2014, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fortune-cookies-delightful-treat-or-throwaway-item/706061/24 "2014-12-02T18:50:33Z")
I take the cookie home to the dog. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2014, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fortune-cookies-delightful-treat-or-throwaway-item/706061/25 "2014-12-02T20:28:30Z")
> [@Sigmagirl](#): > > I take the cookie home to the dog. Our local Chinese Restaurant considers us good customers, so they always give us many cookies with our take-out. They go to our chickens after we extract the paper. The chickens love them. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2014, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fortune-cookies-delightful-treat-or-throwaway-item/706061/26 "2014-12-02T20:37:09Z")
When I get a fortune cookie at the end of a meal, I smash it with my fist against the table surface while it’s still in the cellophane wrapper - that ensures that the fortune will come true! But, I don’t eat them, I don’t find them appealing. The base flavor is “meh”, whereas the somethings-off aftertaste and pasty coating in my mouth lingers for way too long. Also, I get gummy chunks stuck in my teeth that I have to pick out. (Aren’t you glad you asked?) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2014, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fortune-cookies-delightful-treat-or-throwaway-item/706061/27 "2014-12-02T21:05:40Z")
My family acts them out as charades. I do also mentally add “in bed” which cheers me up in two ways. First, the result is almost always amusing. Secondly, every time I do it I remember the friends who told me about it, and the dinner we shared that night. > [@BigT](#): > > They’re great, and I lament not being able to eat them anymore. It’s one of those food items where it doesn’t make sense to make your own. It really doesn’t. But my mom did one time when I was in elementary school. It was for a public hearing about the fate of our school. She typed out (on a typewriter) a whole page worth of catchy slogans and facts about the school. I helped her bend the cookies over the edge of egg cartons. ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2014, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fortune-cookies-delightful-treat-or-throwaway-item/706061/28 "2014-12-02T21:10:21Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > I read the fortune out loud, adding “in bed” to the end. Then I’ll eat a bite of it, but usually no more because they always seem to be stale. At a place of former employment we had Chinese food Wednesday, and we would the same “in bed” thing. Everyone put a dollar in the kitty and the best “in bed” fortune collected the pot. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2014, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fortune-cookies-delightful-treat-or-throwaway-item/706061/29 "2014-12-03T16:58:27Z")
I eat them but they’re not that tasty. Fortunes I have received: “Made in the USA” and “You are the greatest person in the world.” ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2014, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fortune-cookies-delightful-treat-or-throwaway-item/706061/30 "2014-12-03T17:06:32Z")
They always taste stale to me, which presumably they’re not. Or not always. We sometimes play a game that you are actually opening someone else at the table’s fortune and must read it to them (kind of round-robin format). ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2014, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fortune-cookies-delightful-treat-or-throwaway-item/706061/31 "2014-12-03T21:16:27Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > I eat them but they’re not that tasty. > > Fortunes I have received: “Made in the USA” and “You are the greatest person in the world.” See? “In bed” works perfectly after both of these 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2014, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fortune-cookies-delightful-treat-or-throwaway-item/706061/32 "2014-12-13T20:26:32Z")
Some are good, some are vile (fortunately the ones our local place serves are usually pretty good). We do eat them. And we also do the “in bed” trick. Sometimes this is meh, but the one time Typo Knig’s grandmother got one saying “new business opportunities await you” had us all howling. “Grandma, we didn’t know you were into that line of work!”. ---
**Author:** ![minionkat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@minionkat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minionkat)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2014, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fortune-cookies-delightful-treat-or-throwaway-item/706061/33 "2014-12-14T12:42:32Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > I briefly worked next to a fortune cookie factory. It smelled amazing. > > . I would like to hear more about this please. At first, I thought you were going for the joke, but now I am super curious. I love fortune cookies, I always eat them. Had Chinese food last night. Giggled a bit to myself when my boyfriend ate his cookie, as I was thinking of this thread and didn’t yet know whether he was an eat the cookie kind of guy. My fortune was “You will travel far and wide.” Boyfriend protested that I had already done that. I told him I wasn’t done yet. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2014, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fortune-cookies-delightful-treat-or-throwaway-item/706061/34 "2014-12-14T13:31:18Z")
> [@minionkat](#): > > I would like to hear more about this please. At first, I thought you were going for the joke, but now I am super curious. > > I love fortune cookies, I always eat them. Had Chinese food last night. Giggled a bit to myself when my boyfriend ate his cookie, as I was thinking of this thread and didn’t yet know whether he was an eat the cookie kind of guy. My fortune was “You will travel far and wide.” Boyfriend protested that I had already done that. I told him I wasn’t done yet. 😉 It’s been a while, but apparently Oakland has a few of them. I never went inside, but it did smell good. ---
**Author:** ![Tapiotar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3be4f8/32.png) [@Tapiotar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapiotar)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2014, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fortune-cookies-delightful-treat-or-throwaway-item/706061/35 "2014-12-14T13:32:40Z")
I love fortune cookies, and have had a couple really spectacular synchronistic moments of truth with them. However, it seems as if fewer places provide them these days, and getting a proverb instead of a fortune is lame. I did make them once, when i was in high school. It was a lot of work for very little payoff. However **Gwendee** ’s Mom’s making them with info on the school for the school hearing is a fantastic idea, and could work for many events. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2014, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fortune-cookies-delightful-treat-or-throwaway-item/706061/36 "2014-12-14T14:48:14Z")
My ritual is eat the cookie, then read the fortune. I actually don’t much like fortune cookies, but to get to the fortune, I must eat the cookie first. ---
**Author:** ![simple\_homer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@simple\_homer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simple_homer)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2014, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fortune-cookies-delightful-treat-or-throwaway-item/706061/37 "2014-12-14T15:34:39Z")
I have lived in China for the past 6 years, and I have never seen a fortune cookie in China. "Fortune cookies are often served as a dessert in Chinese restaurants in the United States and some other countries, but are absent in China. The exact origin of fortune cookies is unclear, though various immigrant groups in California claim to have popularized them in the early 20th century, basing their recipe on a traditional Japanese cracker. Fortune cookies have been summarized as being “introduced by the Japanese, popularized by the Chinese, but ultimately … consumed by Americans.” > **[Fortune cookie](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortune_cookie)** > > A fortune cookie is a crisp and sugary cookie wafer made from flour, sugar, vanilla, and sesame seed oil with a piece of paper inside, a "fortune", an aphorism, or a vague prophecy. The message inside may also include a Chinese phrase with translation and/or a list of lucky numbers used by some as lottery numbers. Fortune cookies are often served as a dessert in Chinese restaurants in the United States, Canada, Australia, and other countries, but they are not Chinese in origin. The exact origin... ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2014, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fortune-cookies-delightful-treat-or-throwaway-item/706061/38 "2014-12-14T17:29:30Z")
We take them home (or they come with takeout), open a cookie, read the fortune to the dog, then give him the cookie. Then we take the fortune and put it in a little container with all his other fortunes. He knows that’s the container full of the little bits of paper that for some reason we look at and say something before he gets to eat the cookie. If there’s a more pointless ritual I’d like to hear about it. ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2014, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fortune-cookies-delightful-treat-or-throwaway-item/706061/39 "2014-12-14T17:31:50Z")
Toss. And when received in an actual restaurant I pointedly just leave it sitting in the bill tray because it drives my wife nuts that I can walk of the restaurant without finding out what it says. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2014, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fortune-cookies-delightful-treat-or-throwaway-item/706061/40 "2014-12-14T17:34:39Z")
Eat them. Sometimes buy them by the bag. As cookies go they are about my favorite next to home-made. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fortune-cookies-delightful-treat-or-throwaway-item/706061.md?page=1)