[2] The exact origin of fortune cookies is unclear, though various immigrant groups in California claim to have popularized them in the early 20th century.

They most likely originated from cookies made by Japanese immigrants to the United States in the late 19th or early 20th century.

The Japanese version of the cookie differs in several ways: they are a little bit larger; are made of darker dough; and their batter contains sesame and miso rather than vanilla and butter.

They contain a fortune; however, the small slip of paper was wedged into the bend of the cookie rather than placed inside the hollow portion.

This kind of cookie is called tsujiura senbei (辻占煎餅) and is still sold in some regions of Japan, especially in Kanazawa, Ishikawa.

[5][6][7] David Jung, founder of the Hong Kong Noodle Company in Los Angeles, made a competing claim that he invented the cookie in 1918.

Kito claims to have gotten the idea of putting a message in a cookie from Omikuji (fortune slip) which are sold at temples and shrines in Japan.

According to his story, he sold his cookies to Chinese restaurants where they were greeted with much enthusiasm in both the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas, before spreading.

Traditionally, bakers would bake 3-inch circles of dough, insert a fortune while still warm, and use chopsticks to fold the cookie into its iconic shape before it hardened.

The ingredients (typically made with a base of flour, sugar, vanilla, and sesame seed oil) are mixed in a large tank and squirted onto fast moving trays.

[13] Authorities briefly investigated Wonton Food in 2005, after 110 Powerball lottery players won about $19 million after using the "lucky numbers" on the back of fortunes.

A cookie may have sugar varying from 0–3 g, between 2–8 mg of sodium, and may have significant (compared to their size) amounts of iron or protein.

[18][19][20][21] Fortune cookies, while largely an American item, have been served in Chinese restaurants in Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United Arab Emirates, among others.