No matter what Super Bowl party you are at this year, chances are chicken wings will be served and if you eat them you are not alone.
The National Chicken Council predicts Americans will eat more than 1.25 billion wings on February 5 as they watch the New York Giants battle it out against the New England Patriots.
"Super Bowl weekend is unquestionably the biggest time of year for wings," reads an NCC statement. "If the wings were laid end-to-end they would circle the circumference of the Earth - more than twice - a distance that would reach approximately a quarter of the way to the moon."
Even though it's American football, Canadians still consumer their fare share of wings. One of the most popular wing restaurants in Toronto, Duff's Famous Wings, actually closes for the day because they are too busy filling take-out orders.
"It's our busiest day of the year," said owner Rob Erlich to the Toronto Star last year. "We've shut our dining room on the Super Bowl for the last seven years. We've tried to do both, dining and take out, but it was a disaster, it was overwhelming."
Last year Duff's alone sold more than 25,000 wings on what is the biggest day for the sale of wings in Canada.
Canadians have tripled their consumption of chicken in the past 30 years and the bird is now above pork and beef as the country's predominant meat dish.
The NCC believes wing consumption will be relatively similar to last year because Patriots fans are six per cent less likely to eat wings. Luckily for them, Giants fans are 24 per cent more likely to chow down on a nib.
The NCC was really hoping to see the Giants take on the Baltimore Ravens. Out of the four possible match ups going into the conference championship games, fans of those teams are most likely to eat wings.
But they are happy the San Francisco 49ers didn't make it because those fans are 34 per cent less likely to go for the chicken.
The concept of wings started just south of the border in Buffalo, New York in 1964. That's when Anchor Bar co-owner Teressa Bellissimo cooked leftover wings, which couldn't be used in any dishes, in hot sauce as a late-night snack for her son and his friends. They were such as hit the restaurant put them on the menu the next day and served them with celery slices and blue cheese.
Even though 1.25 billion is a large number, not everyone will be eating wings or even watching the big game. According to Supervalu's third-annual Snack Down Survey, about 23 per cent of people watching will eat wings. Plus, the majority of Americans actually don't watch the Super Bowl. About 111 million watched last year meaning about 196 million didn't.
(Getty Images)
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