Sports
Super Bowl 2014 Food: Americans Will Eat 1.25 Billion Chicken Wings Sunday (Recipes)
[MLive]
Americans will devour 1.25 billion chicken wings on Super Bowl Sunday — that’s four wings for every man, woman and child. (Cathy Miller/Inside Jersey)
What do you get the Super Bowl snack that has everything? Crispy, spicy and creamy, Buffalo wings with its classic blue cheese sauce turn 50 this year. In 1964, Teressa Bellissimo, the co-owner of the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, served up leftover wings with celery slices and blue cheese sauce to her son Dominic and his friends as a late night snack; it became a hit at the bar and eventually the rest of America, in part because the formerly unloved chicken part was so cheap and readily available.
This year, Americans will eat 1.25 billion wings during Super Bowl XLVIII, about 20 million more than last year — more chicken supply and lower prices this year — which matches the record level set in 2012, according to the National Chicken Council’s 2014 Wing Report.
That’s nearly four wings for every man, woman and child in America. Laid wingtip to wingtip, they would stretch from Seattle to MetLife Stadium.
While blue cheese may be the classic accompaniment to chicken wings, ranch dressing is tops with most diners, according to a new National Chicken Council poll, followed by barbecue sauce. Only 32 percent of those asked preferred blue cheese, although Northeasterners are significantly more likely to stick with big blue than diners in other parts of America. They’re also more likely to prefer Buffalo wings over milder andeven spicier versions.
