88. Fortune Cookies

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).

Who decides which snacks are in your office’s vending machine? How much is a suburban elm tree worth, and to whom? How did Girl Scout Cookies become a billion-dollar business? In bite-sized episodes, journalist Zachary Crockett looks at quotidian things and finds amazing stories.

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• No. of episodes: 106
• Latest episode: 2025-05-05
• Business

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