The Economics of Everyday Things
00:16:15 · Zachary Crockett, Jennifer Lee, Norman Wong
[00:16:15] S2: When fortune cookies first became widely popular in the nineteen fifties, many writers turned to the Chinese philosopher Confucius, and they took some liberties with his work. [00:16:26] S4: Confucius started saying things that he never said. Americans just thought he was, like, a wise man, and therefore Confucius said. [00:16:34] S2: Today's fortunes have evolved, but the fundamentals of the message are still the same. [00:16:40] S3: Has to have a positive message. This is what comes at the end of the meal. Right? So it's something that has to give customers a little bit of joy so that they'll be encouraged to come back to the Chinese restaurant. There's the typical category, which is the predictive type. You know, like, something's gonna happen to you in the future. There's humorous ones. There's one that are based on ancient Chinese philosophy. There's ones that are encouraging you, words of inspiration. [00:17:05] S2: My favorite fortune I ever got, all it said was someone is watching you from afar. [00:17:11] S3: Oh, yeah. Hopefully, that keeps you on the straight and narrow. [00:17:15] S2: Wonton Food has employed a few chief fortune writers over the years. They sift through quote books, philosophical texts, and social media to find short and snappy fortunes that fit the bill.
00:17:15 · Zachary Crockett, Norman Wong
[00:17:15] S2: Wonton Food has employed a few chief fortune writers over the years. They sift through quote books, philosophical texts, and social media to find short and snappy fortunes that fit the bill. [00:17:29] S3: Let me see. Where is the list here? Ah, here we go. Trust in your dreams. They hold your potential. Embrace your destiny and let go of fear and doubt. No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible. Even the greatest of whales is helpless in the middle of a desert. [00:17:53] S2: Wonton Food now has a database of more than 10,000 fortunes, which it rotates in and out of circulation. [00:18:01] S3: We make millions of cookies a day, and, you know, we don't want a situation where you get the same message. We're constantly reviewing the database of fortune messages to make sure that it's something fresh. [00:18:12] S2: At times, the writers at Wonton Food have gotten a little too experimental. In the mid-2000s, they wrote a series of more ominous fortunes. Diners across the country were getting notes like, Today is a disastrous day, or There might be a crisis looming. That one, by the way, debuted a few months before the Great Recession. [00:18:34] S3: There's cultural mores that evolve over time in our society. So whatever's going on in the zeitgeist, we have to make sure that cookies reflect that.
00:18:34 · Norman Wong, Zachary Crockett
[00:18:34] S3: There's cultural mores that evolve over time in our society. So whatever's going on in the zeitgeist, we have to make sure that cookies reflect that. [00:18:45] S2: Just as consequential is what's on the back of a fortune. If you flip one over, you'll often find a set of six lucky numbers. Wonton Food was the first company to do this. Huang says many people use those numbers to enter the lottery, and it's not uncommon for them to strike it big. [00:19:05] S3: Oh, yeah. That happens, like, every month. We can't even keep track of it. [00:19:08] S2: In 2005, 110 people all over the country won $19,000,000 in the Powerball lottery by using the lucky numbers on the back of a wonton food fortune cookie. Wong says the company got a visit from skeptical lottery officials. [00:19:25] S3: They came here, interviewed us. Initially, they thought what was going on here. Yeah. And then once they reviewed our process, they realized it was just the magic of fortune cookies. [00:19:35] S2: In recent years, Wang has tried to introduce the magic of fortune cookies to other countries. As Chinese immigrants have spread around the world, so too have Chinese restaurants, and by proxy, the international demand for fortune cookies. You can now find them in Europe, South America, Africa, and Australia. But one place that has resisted the fortune cookie is China. In the nineties, Wonton Food tried to introduce fortune cookies there, but they abandoned the project due to lack of interest. The cookies, as it turns out, were just too American.
00:19:35 · Zachary Crockett, Jennifer Lee
[00:19:35] S2: In recent years, Wang has tried to introduce the magic of fortune cookies to other countries. As Chinese immigrants have spread around the world, so too have Chinese restaurants, and by proxy, the international demand for fortune cookies. You can now find them in Europe, South America, Africa, and Australia. But one place that has resisted the fortune cookie is China. In the nineties, Wonton Food tried to introduce fortune cookies there, but they abandoned the project due to lack of interest. The cookies, as it turns out, were just too American. [00:20:13] S4: Did we ever bring a whole bag of fortune cookies to China and you just give them to people? They'll pop them in their mouth and they're like, woah. Woah. What's this? Americans are so strange. Like, why are they putting pieces of paper in their food? [00:20:26] S2: For Jennifer Lee, the answer to that question is clear. [00:20:30] S4: It's a non religious, non woo woo way to believe that there's a larger cosmic framework. You can get a fortune, and it feels like a personal message even though in reality, that fortune was probably printed 10,000 times in the factory. But it feels like it's a custom message from the cosmos to you delivered in a little cute package. There's something about that whole ritual that makes you believe there's a pattern to the madness of the universe. [00:21:06] S2: Aunt Norman Wong is happy to keep the tradition alive.
00:21:06 · Zachary Crockett, Norman Wong, Jennifer Lee
[00:21:06] S2: Aunt Norman Wong is happy to keep the tradition alive. [00:21:10] S3: People put it on their computer. They put it on their refrigerators. Put it in their wallets. It's a message that sticks with them. This little piece of paper that's been folded into a cookie dough brings so much joy and it gives people an opportunity to reflect and then also sparks dinner conversations. I think that's what people crave. They want something that's not just a physical product. They want something that inspires them, a message that they can share. Yeah. And they're fun. [00:21:41] S2: For The Economics of Everyday Things, I'm Zachary Crockett. This episode was produced by me and Sarah Lilly and mixed by Jeremy Johnston. We had help from Daniel Moritz Rappson. And thanks to our listeners, Liam Conn, Sean Gleason, and Jeff Frankel for suggesting this topic. [00:22:07] S4: Love is a warm fire to keep the soul warm. I don't know. I don't know. I'm not feeling that one so much. [00:22:12] S2: Warm twice? [00:22:13] S4: This is not the most elegant. [00:22:19] S2: The Freakonomics Radio Network, the hidden side of everything.
00:22:19 · Zachary Crockett, S13, S7, S8, S9, S10, S11, S12, S14
[00:22:19] S2: The Freakonomics Radio Network, the hidden side of everything. [00:22:25] S13: Some of the most important design choices are the ones that go unnoticed. The details that together make an experience feel intuitive, comfortable, and above all, exhilarating. At Acura, that means looking closely at how every detail could make your experience behind the wheel more rewarding. Every lesson learned and every idea refined becomes part of what comes next, and it lives inside every MDX, ADX, and Integra. That's precision crafted performance. That's Acura. [00:22:49] S7: What do I gift my mom and nieces? [00:22:51] S8: Walmart has top brands you know, like Ninja, Disney, Lego. Oh, dad loves music. Sonos can bring his songs to life with sound that hits just right. [00:23:06] S9: And my coffee obsessed bestie. [00:23:07] S10: De'Longhi brews coffee right for morning's extra price. [00:23:11] S11: All those great brands at Walmart? Who knew? [00:23:13] S12: We knew. Now you do too. [00:23:16] S13: Shop gifts they'll love at Walmart. [00:23:20] S14: At Jared Jewelers, we know it's about more than fine jewelry. It's the moment they open the box, that smile they can't hide, knowing you chose exactly right. Because the right gift can bring a lifetime of meaning, a promise, a milestone, a memory in the making. Make every moment unforgettable. Find great gifts starting at $250 Jared, make the holiday last forever. Shop Jared Jewelers.