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The Case of the Stolen Fortune Cookie Fortunes

In the US every Chinese meal comes with fortune cookies. Their story is full of intrigue.

"Some men dream of fortunes. Others dream of cookies." This is a real fortune cookie fortune. It would be a prescient fortune for Yongsik Lee. He invented the fully automatic fortune cookie machine in the early 1980s and built a business on his invention. The Korean immigrant sold fortune cookie machines and fortunes to companies all over the US. It was a good business until one day, one of his employees stole his fortunes and his customers. We get to the bottom of a theft that forever changed Yongsik Lee's life.

(Image: Fortune cookies on display at The Ritz Carlton in Miami Beach, Florida. Credit: Neilson Barnard/Getty Images)

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27 minutes

Last on

Christmas Day 201706:32GMT
BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

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  • Sat 23 Dec 201700:32GMT
    BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean
  • Sat 23 Dec 201705:32GMT
    BBC World Service except Americas and the Caribbean, East and Southern Africa, News Internet & South Asia
  • Sat 23 Dec 201720:32GMT
    BBC World Service Australasia
  • Sat 23 Dec 201723:32GMT
    BBC World Service except Americas and the Caribbean & News Internet
  • Christmas Eve 201705:32GMT
    BBC World Service East and Southern Africa
  • Christmas Eve 201711:32GMT
    BBC World Service except News Internet
  • Christmas Day 201706:32GMT
    BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

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  • Boston Calling

    How the world looks through American eyes, and the myriad and unexpected ways that the world influences the United States.