The Fortune Cookie Chronicles

A culinary, social, and cultural history of Chinese restaurants in the United States—“Entertaining … A winner” (Publishers Weekly, starred review).

“Wok on . . . Fascinating . . . Intriguing . . . Fun to read.” —New York TimesBook Review

One woman. One consuming obsession. Forty thousand restaurants.

Jennifer 8. Lee’s chief mission was to solve the mystery of how dozens of people across American had won a lottery after receiving lucky numbers in their fortune cookies. But her journey, which took her into the world of Chinese restaurants, provoked even greater investigations. Traveling across the globe and to almost every American state, Lee interviewed legendary restaurateurs, searched for the connection between General Tso and the chicken dish bearing his name, delved into the origins of chop suey as well as the fortune cookie, and uncovered what can only be described as  The Great Kosher Duck Scandal, a window into the relationship between Jews and Chinese food. For anyone who has ever found wisdom in a fortune cookie, her book offers a delicious feast of surprises and wonder.

“Fascinating. . . . Tasty cultural history. . . . Revelations come fast and frequent. . . . Combines the muckraking of Fast Food Nation with the globe-trotting reach of No Reservations.” —Boston Globe

“Funny . . . engaging. . . . [Lee] is a bright cookie. . . . The Fortune Cookie Chronicles is a deeply enjoyable meal, for anyone who likes talking or thinking about food.”—Los Angeles Times

• Lee travels wide and digs deep to unearth the answers to several burning questions...
  From all-you-can-eat buffets in Kansas to the small southern Chinese village of Jietoupu, where she tracks down descendants of General Tso (who, natch, have never heard of, seen or tasted their forefather's infamous chicken dish), the author takes readers by the hand and brings them on her adventure.
  
  Christine Y. Chen, The Washington Post
• "Readers will take an unexpected and entertaining journey-through culinary, social and cultural history-in this delightful first book on the origins of the customary after-Chinese-dinner treat by New York Times reporter Lee. ... Lee also pries open factoids and tidbits of American culture that eventually touch on large social and cultural subjects such as identity, immigration and nutrition. Copious research backs her many lively anecdotes, and being American-born Chinese yet willing to scrutinize herself as much as her objectives, she wins the reader over. Like the numbers on those lottery fortunes, the book's a winner."
  Publisher's Weekly, Starred Review
• "Jennifer 8. Lee has cracked the world of Chinese restaurants like a fortune cookie. Her book is an addictive dim-sum of fact, fun, quirkiness and pathos. It's Anthony Bourdain meets Calvin Trillin. Lee is the kind of reporter I can only dream of being: committed, compassionate, resourceful, and savvy. I devoured this book in two nights (in bed), and suggest you do the same."
  Mary Roach, author of STIFF and SPOOK
• "Those of us who eat Chinese food are lucky to have Jennifer Lee as a guide to the modern global migrations and individual ingenuity that have made it the world's favorite cuisine. "
  Sasha Issenberg, author of THE SUSHI ECONOMY
• "[Lee] embeds her subject's history in an entertaining personal narrative, eschewing cookie-cutter interviews and dry lists of facts and figures . . . she has a breezy, likable literary demeanor that makes the first-person material engaging. Thanks to Lee's journalistic chops, the text moves along energetically even in its more expository sections . . . Tasty morsels delivered quickly and reliably."
  
  Kirkus Reviews