'Fortuneless' Cookies?

On our tour around China Town in San Francisco we viewed and were able to enter a fortune cookie shop. Automatically we were given samples of pancake shaped fortune cookies called ‘fortuneless cookies’. They were nothing like I expected. The dry, thin fortune cookies from restaurants and fast food joints are sad compared to the fresh baked cookies in the shop. The cookies were thin but thick when bitten into. They were sweet and yummy! I could not help myself from not buying a huge bag. Nothing can quiet beat the taste of fresh,food!

The cookie company is located between Jackson and Washington Streets in Ross Alley in San Fransico. It was opened in 1962 and owned by Franklin Lee. The workers made traditional fortune cookies, as well as chocolate flavored fortune cookies, almond cookies, and other sweets. The bags of cookies were fresh since they were made all in the same day or they would have become stale. Tourists can buy cookies for around for $3 a bag. You can also take pictures but they charge for photographs of the workers (50 cents).

Within a few paces of the entrance you can see fortune cookies being made right in front of you. First, the batters for the cookies are poured into a hot press. Then, a fortune is placed on one side of the hot, flat dough. Next, each soft, hot cookie is shaped over a steel rod into the shape of a fortune cookie. This process must be done very quickly; otherwise the cookie will harden before it has the right fortune cookie shape. The hardened cookies are thrown away. The process goes by so quickly that a huge batch of cookies was seemed to be made in couple of minutes.

The fortune cookie factory was fascinating as it showed how fortune cookies that we eat are not typically plain and hard. The cookies are actually made with technique and taste. It was exciting to try something new that I was not used to. The tour allowed me to have a better understanding of the Chinese from the Gold Rush. The tour was an event that I will never forget and remember. I hope I will learn of more cultures in the near future.

Kiarra Sims-Jean
Pictures from Google Images