The Buffalo wing was created in 1964, making it younger than Demi Moore, Johnny Depp, and even Barack Obama. On Sept. 3, Buffalo, N.Y., will hold its annual National Buffalo Wing Festival, a two-day celebration that will end on the 5th of September, 2022. The basics of the wings are now so well-known in every college-town sports bar that they might almost be considered a natural resource. There are crispy-fried chicken wings that have been broken into drumettes and flats to resemble the limbs of a much smaller bird. Celery with varying degrees of freshness and gentle squabbles over blue cheese and ranch dressing. But where did the idea for the spicy snack come from? What's the deal with the celery? Let’s check out.
Although the core facts are the same, there are at least two alternative tales of the buffalo wings' origin. The first plate of wings was served in 1964 at the Anchor Bar, a family-owned restaurant in Buffalo. Teressa Bellissimo created the wings, coating them in her own special sauce and serving them with a side of blue cheese and celery because that's what she had on hand. With the exception of the rare sceptic who claims to be the genuine creator, these facts are fairly uncontested. The rest of the story is a complete mystery.
The wings were conceived out of necessity, according to Teressa Bellissimo's husband, Frank, who told the New Yorker in 1980 that the pub had unintentionally received a shipment of wings (instead of other chicken parts) and didn't know what to do with them. Dominic, Bellissimo's son, disagreed with his father's story. Dominic claimed the wings were an unexpected late-night snack Teressa made at his request. He had been drinking with friends and wanted his mother to make something for them to eat. The stories aren't strictly contradictory — Teressa may have decided to offer her son some of the excess chicken wings from the erroneous shipment — but because all three Bellissimo family members have died, it's impossible to know which version is correct. Buffalo appears unconcerned about the finer points of its namesake meal and the northern New York municipality observes Chicken Wing Day on July 29 every year since 1977.
Instead of their original, more difficult-to-eat akimbo shape, buffalo wings should be snapped in half to resemble miniature drumsticks. They're then deep fried without any coating or breading, then slathered in that fiery bright orange sauce - a mix of melted butter, spicy sauce and red pepper — that covers your fingers and manages to get all over your clothes no matter how many napkins you use.
Well, so that was how it all started for the buffalo chicken wings.