As a child, when my family went to Chinese restaurants, my favourite part was opening the fortune cookie to read my future.

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I cracked them open at many long-vanished places like House of Wong, Yangstze, Nanking and Bill Wong.

The fortunes ranged from simple predictions, like “A pleasant surprise is in store for you,” to philosophical advice, like “A long life may not be good enough, but a good life is long enough.”

Some were clever, like “The road to success is always under construction.” Though you wouldn’t know that in Montreal.

Another memorable one I got as a young adult was: “Now would be a good time to invest in RRSPs.” I wish I’d listened sooner.

But where did these fortunes come from?

It was decades later I learned every fortune I (and you) got in Montreal Chinese restaurants came from one place: Wing Noodles, a Chinatown food-manufacturing landmark that’s