All sorts of snacks are eaten across the United States, and among the most popular of them are chicken wings. A hungry consumer may look up the best chicken delivery catering services in town, and they may look online to find the best chicken wings possible when they visit a new city. Often, part of the fun of being a tourist is trying out the local cuisine, and that can certainly include some chicken wings. Someone who visits Florida’s South Beach may look online with a phrase such as “South Beach delivery chicken wings” to find some great South Beach delivery caterers, and a search like “south beach delivery” can be narrowed down by specifying what flavor of chicken wings the client wants. So, what is there to know about chicken in the United States today? And what kind of options will someone looking for the best wings have?
Consuming Chicken
It is safe to say that chicken ranks as the most popular protein in the United States today, beating even steak, pork, and fish. Chickens are widely domesticated in many species and are cultivated around the world, and that certainly includes the United States. In fact, Americans eat more chicken than any other nation’s population around the globe, and as of 2015, Americans consumed 90.1 pounds of chicken each yer, per capita. The National Chicken Foundation once projected that that figure would grow even more, to reach 91.8 pounds per capita in 2016. And in 2015, some nine billion broiler chickens, weighing a total of 53 billion pounds (liveweight) were produced. On a ready-to-cook basis, some 40 billion pounds of chicken were marketed. Often, chicken consumption spikes close to the Fourth of July, when Americans purchase a total of 700 million pounds of it in the week leading up to that holiday.
Ways to Eat
This massively popular protein has the advantage of being very flexible on a culinary level. Often, chicken is a major ingredient in Latin American cuisine, and many authentic Latin restaurants will feature chicken, such as shredded chicken, in burritos, tacos, and more. Chicken and fish together are a major source of protein in traditional Mexican and other Latin cooking, as beef is primarily associated with the hybrid Tex-Mex cooking style instead. Chicken meat may be bought in a grocery store to use in a casserole, to make chicken fingers, chicken pot pie, fried and breaded chicken, and a whole lot more.
Home cooking is a fine way to make use of chicken meat, but many consumers are looking for freshly baked wings in particular. Often, these wings may come from a specialized restaurant that cooks nothing but wings, and they can often perform deliveries for interested patrons. This is why someone visiting South Beach in Florida may look up “south beach delivery chicken wings” to find nearby wing restaurants that indeed offer this service. The restaurant might send a car or a van to make that delivery, nice and hot. In other cases, the patron may pick up their order in the restaurant.
What do these wings taste like, and when are common times to order this kind of food? There’s no “wrong” way to have chicken wings, but a patron may choose whether or not their order is breaded, and whether or not the bones are in it. They may also choose from all sorts of sauces, such as buffalo hot sauce. Chicken wings may come with dipping sauces too, such as Ranch or honey mustard or barbecue sauce too, such as in disposable plastic cups. Some wings might be hot and spicy, while others may have a milder flavor.
As mentioned earlier, many Americans eat chicken wings for the Fourth of July, which is a popular time for grilling, smoking, and frying meats such as chicken and beef. Or, a birthday party may call for food like chicken wings, and many sports fans may include chicken wings on the menu for a Super Bowl house party. Watching sports is a fine time for chicken wings, pizza, soda, and the like.