The Hidden Black History Of Buffalo Wings

a plate of wings on a table
Briona Lamback
January 12, 2025

In the 1960s, John Young was experimenting with sauce recipes in Wings and Things, his restaurant in Buffalo, New York. Business was slow in this neighborhood joint until Young added something special to his mambo sauce. Little did he know this tweak would change everything.

Young’s restaurant, Wings and Things, popped off. Until then, chicken wings hadn’t been a desirable cut of meat. But Young’s whole wings, breaded and dipped in his special sauce were an immediate hit.

His innovation and proximity to the Buffalo Bills stadium meant that his wings were inevitably linked to the sport. Fans with few dining options inside the stadium purchased Buffalo wings to enjoy game-side. Why don’t we know more about this brilliant Black king of the wings?

An Italian couple began serving the wings at their bar about a mile away. By the 1980s, they were taking the credit for “inventing” Buffalo Wings, but that’s an unseasoned white lie. Young knew it: “I was selling 5,000 pounds of chicken wings in 1962,” he said in a 1981 article. “Mr. Bellissimo used to come into my place and eat my chicken wings.”

They can’t outdo greatness. In 2020, Young’s daughter, Lina Brown-Young, began serving her dad’s recipes on historical “wing rides” around Buffalo. Greatness is in our DNA, even when we don't get the credit we deserve. How can you use your talents to create your own incredible addition to our history?

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