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The Killing of a Fortune Cookie

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Still from Derek Shimoda's documentary The Killing of a Chinese Cookie.
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Still from Derek Shimoda's documentary The Killing of a Chinese Cookie.

LOS ANGELES, December 10, 2009 – The best and brightest students of Los Angeles-based culinary schools competed in a cook-off based on fortune cookie-inspired desserts. Anxious attendees waited to sample a variety of sugary confections and cast their votes based on taste, appearance and creativity.  The competition was followed by a screening of the documentary The Killing of a Chinese Cookie and a Q&A session with the writer/director Derek Shimoda.  The event was co-sponsored by Asia Society Southern California.

For nearly a century, people have turned to the fortune cookie for advice, inspiration, and even winning lottery combinations. The Killing of a Chinese Cookie examines the heated debate over the true origin of this prophetic dessert, the mixing of Eastern and Western cultures that produced it, and the cookie’s rise from a simple pastry to a pop culture phenomenon.

A Los Angeles native, director Derek Shimoda produced the feature films In My Life and Secret Asian Man, an official selection of the 2000 Sundance Film Festival. Over the past several years, Shimoda has worked on documentary series for several cable networks including Animal Planet, National Geographic, and A&E.

Watch the trailer for The Killing of a Chinese Cookie (1 min., 1 sec.)

Related link:
The Killing of a Chinese Cookie (official film website)

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