FOOD NEWS
How Chicken Wings Became A Super Bowl Sunday Staple
By Camryn Teder
One of the most classic food pairings for a special game day is a hearty plate of chicken wings. Per the National Chicken Council, Americans are on track to consume over 1.3 billion chicken wings during the 2023 Super Bowl weekend (via TIME), and there's a moment in history we can thank for making chicken wings a Super Bowl Sunday staple.
According to NPR, you can trace the chicken wing craze during the Super Bowl season to the rise of sports bars. While ribs and pizza were popular choices at these establishments, they proved to be too expensive compared to a plate of Buffalo chicken wings, so bar owners pushed chicken wings instead of other food choices.
While the chicken wing has been a part of the Super Bowl experience since the first sports bar opened in 1979 (per Vinepair), decades later, it remains a beloved part of the Sunday. In fact, per Reader's Digest, the National Chicken Council has even tried to dub the following Monday "National Chicken Wing Appreciation Day."