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How Buffalo Chicken Wings Originated Because Of A Clerical Error

One of the most popular American foods came about because of a mistake

Andrew Martin
4 min readAug 20, 2023

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There are few meat-eating Americans who have not enjoyed an order of Buffalo chicken wings at one time or another in their lives. For a number of people, this experience has become a regular occurrence, given the deliciousness of crispy fried chicken slathered in hot sauce and dipped in a cool blue cheese or ranch dressing. Such a delicacy may seem like it comes from the gods, but in the case of this wildly popular food, it’s a recent invention that only came about as a happy mistake after a restaurant accidentally ordered the wrong item from a supplier and needed to find a way to get rid of the unwanted meat.

Today, there are few American-themed restaurants that don’t offer chicken wings, with many of them having a “Buffalo” option on their menu. This is all part of a national crazy for the delectable savory item. It’s impossible to tell exactly how many wings are eaten every year but, during the 2021 Super Bowl, the National Chicken Council estimated that nearly 1.5 billion were consumed on the day of the big football game.

This phenomenon technically owes their existence to the Anchor Bar, a popular Italian restaurant, in Buffalo, New York. In 1964, the pub’s owner…

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Andrew Martin
Andrew Martin

Written by Andrew Martin

Dabbler in soccer, history, investing & writing. Master’s degree in baseball history. Passionate about history, diversity, culture, sports, film and investing .

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