The Not-So-Ancient Chinese Secrets of the Fortune Cookie

Comic explores the "surprising history" of the Chinese restaurant staple.



Today, the fortune cookie is a ubiquitous, commonplace element of the American Chinese restaurant experience, from your local mom-and-pop takeout joints to Panda Express. A little slip of wisdom tucked inside a crispy folded cookie. But did you know that fortune cookies didn't even originate from China? Not quite. The fortune cookie's close association with Chinese cuisine is actually an American phenomenon.

This great comic by Soleil Ho and Blue Delliquanti delves into The Surprising History of the Fortune Cookie, examining its true origins as a Japanese confection dating back to the 19th century, the cookie's trajectory to California, and its eventual post-war dissemination into an essential part of Chinese American dining.

Read it here: The Surprising History of the Fortune Cookie

Dogs in a Chinese restaurant? It's not what you think.

But the San Antonio Express-News led many to believe a Chinese eatery was serving up something gross.


Over the weekend, the San Antonio Express-News posted a bland weekly roundup on local restaurant inspections. One of them included an area Chinese restaurant, Lee's Garden Chinese Restaurant, where an inspector saw a dog on the premises. Like, somebody's pet. Perhaps not particularly sanitary, depending on where the dog was hanging out, but whatever. It got the necessary citation.

However, when the restaurant inspection report was posted to the San Antonio Express-News' Facebook page on Saturday, they used the headline "Inspectors Find Dogs in Chinese Restaurant" accompanied by a photo of food. The insinuation, of course, is that the Chinese restaurant was caught serving dog meat.

When you click through to the article, the actual headline on mysanantonio.com simply reads "San Antonio restaurant inspections: February 17, 2017." The report notes that "roaches and dogs were seen in the establishment." And that's it. (Okay, the roaches are gross.) That was apparently all they needed to put together a racist, misleading Facebook post. Guaranteed to get some clicks.

Of course, nobody actually reads anything. The misleading headline inspired a deluge of Facebook comments along the lines of "Ooh hell no I just had Chinese last night... Mfs trynna kill us" and "Fuck Chinese lol."

The Chinese Food T-Shirts You Never Knew You Needed

Chicken feet. Sausage buns. Gai lan. Curry fish balls. On a t-shirt.



Do you like Chinese food? I mean, do you really like Chinese food? Like, as a matter of pride? Then these badass, delicious-looking shirts from AYCE are for you. We're talking chicken feet, sausage buns, gai lan, curry fish balls -- the good stuff. Prominently and proudly featured on a white tee.

Created by friends Alex Wong, Jonathan Ng and Jamie Fung, these shirts are a celebration of food, culture and community. Alex says they were intentional about which dishes to highlight, specifically picking items that were close to their hearts, but might be considered more "offbeat" to someone unfamiliar with Chinese cuisine.

"A lot of western culture tends to cherry pick what they deem worthy when it comes to food items from other culture, whether it be Chinese or something else," Alex says. "These are food items that we feel are relevant to our culture that have either been rejected or not accepted yet. They're very much ours and relevant to us."

Writers respond to "Have They Run Out of Provinces Yet?"

"Asian Americans are in the room, and although his poem wasn't meant for us, we're speaking back to it."



You may have come across writer and humorist Calvin Trillin's New Yorker poem "Have The Run Out of Provinces Yet?" in which a foodie bemoans the increasing, overwhelming presence of regional Chinese cuisine. The exasperated diner in Trillin's poem longs for the"Simple days of chow mein but no stress, / When we never were faced with the threat / Of more provinces we hadn't met."

Yes, it's satire. But as many critics of the poem have pointed out, it also reads like nostalgia for a pre-1965 era, before racist immigration quotas based on national origin were phased out. You see, America loves Chinese things. They want to consume Chinese things. They just don't want anything to do with actual Chinese people.

Trillin's poem "continues an American tradition of talking about Asia as if we Asians were not in the room," poet Timothy Yu writes in the New Republic. "It's an in-joke among white consumers of Chinese things, but actual Chinese people are at best absent from its lines, and at worst a looming peril within them. The eruption of response to the poem shows how wrong Trillin was: Asian Americans are in the room, and although his poem wasn't meant for us, we're speaking back to it."

The Asian American Writers' Workshop asked writers to submit their own takes on Trillin's poem -- to take up space in this room and speak back. They've posted fourteen different responses, like this hot bit of verse from poet Franny Choi:

Is this guy actually sad that there's too much Chinese food?

Ridiculous New Yorker poem laments that there is more to Chinese food than chow mein.



How in the world does something like this make it into a "prestige" publication like The New Yorker? How did someone actually get paid for writing this ridiculous piece of self-centered white western indulgence?

This New Yorker piece by humorist and food writer Calvin Trillin that begins, "Have they run out of provinces yet?" is a white dude's sad lament about all the different varieties and origins of Chinese cuisine. "Too many to name." It is actually expressing anxiety that there are too many different kinds of Chinese food.

Teen suspect arrested in viral video attack on delivery man

Police arrest 13-year-old who messed with the wrong Chinese takeout guy.



In New York, a 13-year-old boy who was caught on camera attacking and robbing a Chinese food delivery man has been arrested. Police caught the teen suspect after a video of the incident went viral this week.

Suspect Nabbed In Viral Video Attack On Chinese Food Delivery Man

In the video, the teen is seen tormenting a 38-year-old delivery man. As the man comes out of a building, the teen shoves the victim to the ground, then tears the food out of his hands. As the man tries to gather the bags, the teen kicks a container. That's when the delivery man loses it and goes off on the kid, fighting back.

The incident occurred in the Wagner Houses in East Harlem last November, but the video went viral after being posted by Mediatakeout earlier this week:

Fresh Off The Boat teams up with Panda Express

Fast food chain partners with ABC comedy to celebrate Chinese New Year.



This is really weird, yet actually kind of makes sense. ABC's Fresh Off The Boat and fast food chain Panda Express are joining up for an exclusive partnership to promote the show and celebrate Chinese New Year.

Beginning this week through February 3, Panda Express restaurants across the country will display special branded Fresh Off the Boat Chinese New Year Posters and table tents featuring the Huangs.

That's right. If you step into a Panda Express location, you might just see Hudson Yang or Constance Wu's faces plastered on that little cardboard table tent, sitting next to your glistening plate of orange chicken.

Chinese People Try Panda Express For The First Time

Taste testers of Chinese descent sample greatest hits from the fast food chain's menu.



Everybody knows that there's Chinese food... and then there's "Chinese food." If you don't know the difference, let me be the one to break it to you. Most of the stuff that is dished out and sold at your average strip mall Chinese takeout joint is nowhere to be found on menus in China. It's something else entirely.

The quintessential franchise version of "Chinese" cuisine is, of course, Panda Express. A staple of every mall food court, the ubiquitous fast food chain has had a hand in shaping America's palate for "Chinese" food. But what do Chinese people think about Panda Express?

In this BuzzFeed video, Chinese People Try Panda Express For The First Time. Taste testers of Chinese descent -- virgin tongues to the Panda's flavors -- sample and give their thoughts on Egg Rolls, Orange Chicken, Kung Pao Chicken, Chow Mein, and other greatest hits from the Panda Express menu.

Their reactions are interesting. Take a look:

'The Search For General Tso' is a culinary quest for answers

Feature documentary now in select theaters and VOD



General Tso's chicken. What the heck is it? Where does it come from? Who the hell is General Tso? The feature documentary The Search for General Tso is a globe-trotting quest to answer the culinary mystery of General Tso's chicken, and how it somehow became a staple of Chinese food in America. The film, directed by Ian Cheney, is now playing in select theaters and available on video on demand from IFC Films.

Here's the trailer:

Fund This: Restaurant dreams live on at Pi Dan Noodle House

Allison Chen was two months away from opening her first restaurant when she unexpectedly passed away.



Allison Chen had a dream of opening up a restaurant that serves fresh, authentic dishes from Taiwan and China. But one month from opening Pi Dan Noodle House in Uptown Oakland, she unexpectedly passed away.

Now, Allison's friends and family are picking up where she left off, and they're rallying folks to help reach her dream. They're raising funds to cover the remaining construction and equipment costs needed to open up Pi Dan in June 2014. Can you help make Allison's restaurant dream a reality?

Watch this video for more information:

Do not watch this music video: "Get In My Car." I can't even.

The latest pop music train wreck from the makers of "Chinese Food" and "Friday"



Hey, can someone put me in a music video? Because really, it seems like anyone can be the star of their own music video... for the right price. The latest pop star wannabe to fall prey to producer Patrice Wilson -- the mastermind behind Rebecca Black's "Friday" and that godawful "Chinese food" song -- is 10-year-old Grace Liu, who just dropped the internet's newest audio visual train wreck, "Get In My Car."

Do not watch this:

Beware the eatery that advertises with Sexy Asian Santas

Suzy Wong's House of Yum encourages you to "enjoy Chinese on Christmas day!"



Got this passed along to from a sharp-eyed reader in Nashville, who spotted this totally tasteful newspaper ad for Suzy Wong's House of Yum, encouraging folks to "enjoy Chinese on Christmas day!" In case it isn't immediately obvious, or you were perhaps distracted by the Sexy Asian Santas, that's a restaurant.

"Chinese Food" somehow debuts on the Billboard Hot 100

We have failed, America.



The creepy panda wins. I had hoped that last week's post would be the first and only thing I'd ever have to write about Alison Gold's crap-tastic "Chinese Food" music video... but the damn thing shows signs that it is not going away just like that: Alison Gold's 'Chinese Food' makes shocking debut on Billboard Hot 100.

We have failed, America. The tween pop star wannabe's ode to Chinese cuisine has inexplicably debuted at number 29 on this week's Billboard Hot 100 chart and at number 5 on Billboard's Streaming Songs chart.

You can thank that ass-awful music video -- featuring hot sauce, Oriental Avenue, kid geishas and a creepy, rainbow-farting rapping panda -- for going viral (10.9 million views and counting since October 14) and propelling this shit to the top. For this blog's small part in contributing to that number, I apologize.

Damn you, Patrice Wilson, for unleashing this evil upon the world.

WTF: This music video makes me hate Chinese food. And pandas.

A pop star wannabe, a creepy panda, and a racist, kid-friendly ditty about "Chinese" cuisine.



What the hell did I just watch? From the forces of evil that unleashed Rebecca Black's "Friday" upon the world, here is the godawful music video for "Chinese Food" by pop star wannabe Alison Gold. Who? Yeah, exactly. The video really defies description (and coherence) but it's sort of a G-rated, culturally-inappropriate, tween-friendly foodie celebration of Orientalist imagery. Yes, this video is real.

Check it, this pop hit in the making includes Mongolian barbecue, hot sauce, geishas and an extremely creepy panda man flying away on rainbow power. As you can see, you don't need scantily clad women to exoticize and objectify Asians -- kids can get in on the racist fun too! Just watch it once and be done with it: