Why didn’t the chicken cross the road? Because its feet were in China.
Americans will scarf down a staggering 1.25 billion chicken wings this Super Bowl weekend — but you’d need a passport to track down the remaining parts of the birds.
“About the only thing we don’t utilize from the chicken is the cluck,” quipped John Starkey, president of the US Poultry and Egg Association.
The dark meat generally deemed undesirable stateside will be parceled out to countries in Asia, along with Russia and Mexico.
“Most of the world actually prefers the dark meat,” said Tom Super, a spokesman for the National Chicken Council.
And while Americans would squawk at the idea of noshing on the bird’s feet, those parts are a hit in the Far East.
“The chicken feet are exported in large portions to China, where they fry and eat them with beer,” Super said.
The remaining white meat goes into general distribution in the United States.
Restaurants, supermarkets and other food joints prepare months in advance for the large Super Bowl spike in demand, stocking up on frozen wings to avoid price hikes.
“They know it’s a huge week for wings,” Super said. “They don’t want to buy them the week before.”
Procrastinators are paying through the beak, with a pound of chicken wings soaring from 98 cents a pound to $1.99, according to the National Chicken Council.
And store shelves are stocked with extra supplies to cope with the demand.
“A higher percentage of the wings than normal are packaged as a separate item in response to the demand around the Super Bowl,” Starkey said.
“But the balance of the chicken is distributed through normal channels.”
Wing nuts
1.25 billion—number of chickenwing parts Americans will eat during Super Bowl weekend
2—number of times the 100 million pounds of chicken could circle the earth
$2—Price of a pound of whole wings this weekend, nearly double the normal price
24%—Amount above the national average that folks in the mid-Atlantic region (including Giants fans) consume chicken wings
1964—First known year that wings were cooked in hot sauce (in Buffalo, of course)