Podcast: The Economics of Everyday Things (LS 60 · TOP 0.1% what is this?)
Episode: 88. Fortune Cookies
Pub date: 2025-04-14

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Those tiny treats that predict your future may come free at the end of a Chinese meal, but they’re big business (and not Chinese). Zachary Crockett will go on a long journey.

 

• SOURCES: 
  • Jennifer 8. Lee, documentarian and author of The Fortune Cookie Chronicles.
  • Norman Wong, C.E.O. of Wonton Food.

 

• RESOURCES: 
  • "Canadian Influencer’s Amazement at Absence of Fortune Cookies in China Restaurants Triggers Amusing Online Discussion About Origins of Snack," by Yating Yang (South China Morning Post, 2024).
  • "Fortune Cookies: They’re Japan’s Best-Kept Secret!" by Thalia Harris (Sakuraco, 2023).
  • "What I Learned Eating at 8,000 Chinese Restaurants," by Zhaoyin Feng (BBC News, 2021).
  • The Fortune Cookie Chronicles, by Jennifer 8. Lee (2008).
  • "Lottery Winners Find Good Fortune in Cookies," (NBC News, 2005).

 

• EXTRAS: 
  • "Girl Scout Cookies," by The Economics of Everyday Things (2023).

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