Chinese Glonous History and Cultual: It's actually from Japan!

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Chinese Glonous History and Cultual: It's actually from Japan!

Postby omae mona » Wed Jan 16, 2008 3:28 pm

According to this New York Times article, a researcher has traced the mysterious path of fortune cookies from Chinese restaurants in the U.S. back to their source in 19th century Kyoto.


Solving a Riddle Wrapped in a Mystery Inside a Cookie
New York Times, January 15, 2008
Some 3 billion fortune cookies are made each year, almost all in the United States. But the crisp cookies wrapped around enigmatic sayings have spread around the world. They are served in Chinese restaurants in Britain, Mexico, Italy, France and elsewhere. In India, they taste more like butter cookies. A surprisingly high number of winning tickets in Brazil's national lottery in 2004 were traced to lucky numbers from fortune cookies distributed by a Chinese restaurant chain called Chinatown.

But there is one place where fortune cookies are conspicuously absent: China.

Now a researcher in Japan believes she can explain the disconnect, which has long perplexed American tourists in China. Fortune cookies, Yasuko Nakamachi says, are almost certainly originally from Japan.

Her prime pieces of evidence are the centuries-old small family bakeries making obscure fortune cookie-shaped crackers by hand near a temple outside Kyoto. She has also turned up many references to the cookies in Japanese literature and history, including an 1878 etching of a man making them in a bakery - decades before the first reports of American fortune cookies.
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Postby Captain Japan » Wed Jan 16, 2008 4:24 pm

The JT covered this as well...
What's really 'Chinese' about fortune cookies?
Japan Times
Try this for fun next time you're in New York City: Walk into any sushi bar, eat your fill and then ask for a fortune cookie.

"Would that be a Chinese fortune cookie?" the waiter will likely respond a little loftily. "Sorry, but this is a Japanese restaurant."

"Exactly!" you might vouchsafe -- then launch into telling him how the so-called "Chinese" fortune cookie, that ubiquitous American snack that accompanies every order of General Tso's Chicken or Egg Foo Young, most probably came from . . . Japan, where near-identical tidbits called tsujiura sembei (crossroads-fortune crackers) have been enjoyed for generations.

"They've got the same origin," said Yasuko Nakamachi, a Japanese folklore and history researcher at Kanagawa University who is the country's leading authority on tsujiura sembei. "Since this was a product transmitted from Japan, the [tsujiura sembei] and the American fortune cookie are the same."...more...
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Postby Buraku » Wed Jan 16, 2008 4:44 pm

next they'll be claiming the Brits invented Baseball ;)
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Postby Greji » Wed Jan 16, 2008 5:30 pm

[quote="Buraku"]next they'll be claiming the Brits invented Baseball ]

As a matter of fact, that's pretty well already established.
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Postby Takechanpoo » Wed Jan 16, 2008 6:28 pm

And remember that "Chinese" turntable which is symbol of C-cuisine was originally invented by Japanese carpenter in Yokohama China town.
And modern Chienese language is made of the kanji which we Japanese translated European words into kanji in Meiji era.
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Postby Oradea » Wed Jan 16, 2008 7:07 pm

And, Us Brits also invented the Japanese if I remember correctly....
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Postby Mike Oxlong » Wed Jan 16, 2008 8:52 pm

Been reading your Oscar Wilde, I see.
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Postby omae mona » Wed Jan 16, 2008 9:35 pm

Captain Japan wrote:The JT covered this as well...
Wow. They scooped the NYT by almost 2 years on this story! Between this and the groundbreaking articles that occasionally appear from reporter Brett Bull (e.g. the Dr. Nakamats story from last week), I am starting to be impressed by the JT.
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Postby amdg » Wed Jan 16, 2008 9:46 pm

Chinese Fortune Cookie Invented by Japanese?


SPOILER
[hide]This woman will be sad when she realizes she has wasted her life [/hide]
Mr Kobayashi: First, I experienced a sort of overpowering feeling whenever I was in the room with foreigners, not to mention a powerful body odor coming from them. I don't know whether it was a sweat from the heat or a cold sweat, but I remember I was sweating whenever they were around.
- Otaru Onsen Oral Testimony
--------------------------
Keep staring, I might do a trick.
--------------------------
Noriko you whore!
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Postby amdg » Wed Jan 16, 2008 9:50 pm

there is one place where fortune cookies are conspicuously absent
IN BED!
Mr Kobayashi: First, I experienced a sort of overpowering feeling whenever I was in the room with foreigners, not to mention a powerful body odor coming from them. I don't know whether it was a sweat from the heat or a cold sweat, but I remember I was sweating whenever they were around.
- Otaru Onsen Oral Testimony
--------------------------
Keep staring, I might do a trick.
--------------------------
Noriko you whore!
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Postby xenomorph42 » Thu Jan 17, 2008 7:24 pm

Don`t forget, they also invented 7-eleven too.:rolleyes: or so I am told.
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Postby Mulboyne » Fri Oct 02, 2009 12:31 am

There's an interesting documentary on this subject called "The Killing of a Chinese Cookie" (the title is a pun on this film)

[YThq]i09PCrcHg4o[/YThq]

You can actually watch the documentary in full here.

Image

USA Today: Sweet inspiration
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Postby Taro Toporific » Fri Oct 02, 2009 11:35 am

Mulboyne wrote:
You can actually watch the documentary in full here.


Damn. I demand that 50 minutes of my life back!

Image.

Also check out http://www.EvilFortuneCookies.com
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Postby Takechanpoo » Fri Oct 02, 2009 1:50 pm

Takechanpoo wrote:And remember that "Chinese" turntable which is symbol of C-cuisine was originally invented by Japanese carpenter in Yokohama China town.
And modern Chienese language is made of the kanji which we Japanese translated European words into kanji in Meiji era.

Remember that again
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Postby Greji » Fri Oct 02, 2009 5:05 pm

Takechanpoo wrote:Remember that again


I'll go with you on the turn table, but I'll be damned if I can figure out what you want me to remember about the kanji.....
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Postby Ketou » Fri Oct 02, 2009 6:20 pm

Taro Toporific wrote:Damn. I demand that 50 minutes of my life back!

Image.

Also check out http://www.EvilFortuneCookies.com


You're supposed to take a full and hardy toke on any available leaf substance before watching documentaries....
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