Historical Spotlight: Hot Wings
There isn’t a meal in this world that I love more than hot wings with lemon pepper sprinkles from American Deli. For a hot minute, I’d get them every single Friday night and I literally never got tired of eating them. The flavor hits for me and sometimes I straight up crave the spicy, yet tangy taste. Join me as we shine a Historical Spotlight on the origin of hot wings and how it’s a staple in Black culture.
Hot wings were created in Buffalo, New York by a Black American named John Young. In 1961, he opened a restaurant called John Young’s Wings and Things that specialized in serving breaded whole wings tossed in mumbo sauce. Having moved to Buffalo from Stockton, Alabama when he was just 13 years old, he had a solid foundation of Southern Black American cuisine that guided his cooking over the years.
He saw great success in his recipe especially since Buffalo, New York had a strong Black American population, helping to create a solid customer base that enjoyed his wings. The delicacy eventually spread to other cities with strong Black American roots like Washington, D.C. and Chicago by word of mouth.
He even moved to Illinois to open some food trucks and wing shops, further spreading his recipe. The original sauce was called Mumbo Sauce and was a spicy, tomato-based condiment that had deep Southern roots.
John returned to Buffalo in the 1980s, and was surprised to see just how many restaurants were serving buffalo wings. One in particular called The Anchor Bar was run by Frank and Teressa Bellissimo, an Italian immigrant couple. If you do a quick Google search, many sources suggest they were the inventors of hot wings, when in reality, John was the original creator of the popular dish.
It’s alleged that the Bellissimos, who used chicken wings for soup, had extra wings leftover at the close of business and instead of just throwing them all out, they decided to fry them and toss them in hot sauce. Unfortunately, what we know culturally about that time in history just doesn’t add up.
For starters, it’s very unlikely that two older Italian immigrants who grew up in Italy would come across the pond and create an entirely different dish than what they were accustomed to. Traditional Italian dishes are nothing like buffalo wings. In fact, wings are a spin off of fried chicken, which was already established as a staple in Black American culture since slaves in the South were often allowed to keep chickens, naturally providing an easy dish for special occasions.
So how would an immigrant couple create a dish that’s historically well liked by a completely different culture? Stealing it is how.
In 1962, John experienced a massive boom with his restaurant and was selling 5,000 pounds of chicken wings. At the time, he considered Frank a friend, so naturally he let Frank try his recipe. Once the Anchor Bar got recognition as the first restaurant to sell wings, John realized that Frank stole his idea.
He worked hard to clear up history before he passed in 1998. To honor his legacy and creation, he was inducted into the National Buffalo Wing Hall of Fame in 2013. National chains like Buffalo Wild Wings and Hooters were inspired by his recipe and found great success in the new, lucrative market.
Over time, buffalo wings have grown in popularity. People enjoy them while watching sporting events, to celebrate major life accomplishments, and even for dinner on a normal Friday night. The numerous different flavors, dry rubs, and sauces make them a no-brainer for an easy and delicious food option.
Even though there’s nothing wrong with the wings themselves, they tend to have a negative stigma from being correlated to Black American culture. Some people look down on the dish simply because Black people generally like them. Unfortunately, racism and discrimination has taught the world that anything primarily liked by Black Americans is inferior and negative.
Frank and Teressa Bellissimo capitalized on a growing delicacy. While they might have been trying to reduce waste, I don’t believe they came up with the winning recipe without some help and influence from their alleged friend John Young.
Fast forward to today and you still don’t see too many cultures other than Black Americans enjoying hot wings as frequently or as uniquely as we do. We’ve created entirely new flavors like lemon pepper in Atlanta that have become ingrained in popular society. Wings, especially hot wings, are a Black cultural delicacy and there’s even a National Buffalo Wing Festival held annually in Buffalo.
The origin of hot wings is a very quick tale of how people will steal your million dollar idea if you let them. It’s important to advocate for yourself and protect your intellectual property as best as you can. Inspiration is one thing, but blatant copying and trying to erase history will never be respected.
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Signed,
Jessica Marie
