Fresh Produce Discussion Blog

Created by The Packer's National Editor Tom Karst

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

NEW DOCUMENTARY CELEBRATES 50 YEARS OF BUFFALO WINGS

THE GREAT CHICKEN WING HUNT comes out in select theaters and on Itunes and other leading VOD platforms on January 14 New York, NY (January 14, 2014) – The brand new documentary and film festival favorite THE GREAT CHICKEN WING HUNT will be released on January 14, 2014 in select theaters and, in partnership with digital entertainment curator FilmBuff, across all leading Video On Demand platforms. WING HUNT comes out just two weeks ahead of the Super Bowl, when Americans will eat more than 1.2 billion chicken wings. Celebrating the wing’s rise from lowly bar food from Western New York to one of America’s (and the world’s) most popular foods, the documentary directed by Matt Reynolds follows a group of self-proclaimed wing enthusiasts on a journey through America’s ‘Wing Belt’ as they attempt to find the world’s best Buffalo wing. Over the course of their journey the ‘Wing-Hunters’ stop at 72 bars and restaurants, travel 2,627 miles and try 270 types of wings. After 16 days on the road, and a contentious two-day deliberation, the judges finally settle on one winner, declared the greatest of all. “The film celebrates the Buffalo wing as a uniquely American creation,” Reynolds said, noting that 2014 will mark the 50th anniversary of its invention. “Experts in WING HUNT make the case that the Buffalo wing may in fact be the first purely American food to have conquered the globe (hot dogs, hamburgers, etc, having roots abroad).” Along the trip, the ‘Wing-Hunters’ visit the birthplace of wings in Buffalo, New York, where the Buffalo wing was invented 50 years ago. The original recipe was just two basic ingredients: Frank’s RedHot sauce and melted butter, a pairing that created the flavor we now know as “Buffalo,” igniting a flavor frenzy that has spread around the world. In Buffalo, the Hunters meet Dom Zanghi, the last-living witness to the events of that fateful night that changed culinary history forever. THE GREAT CHICKEN WING HUNT marks the first time this story has been told on film. In addition to Reynolds, the film’s colorful cast of characters includes fellow judges Ben Beavers, a semi-pro eater, Ron Wieszczyk, an amateur sauce-maker, and Ric Kealoha, a Hawaiian chef based in Prague, as well as a befuddled Slovak film crew and Reynolds ever patient girlfriend Lucie. THE GREAT CHICKEN WING HUNT is available starting today on iTunes (http://bit.ly/18zyIYy), Amazon Instant Video, Google Play, Xbox Video, Sony Playstation, Cinemanow and Vudu, and will be available on Hulu starting January 30. WING HUNT was an audience favorite at dozens of festivals in 2013, including Woodstock, STARZ Denver and Austin, winning awards at Indie Spirit, Memphis, Big Apple and Williamsburg. For more information on the film and the history of wings, visit the Official Site (chickenwinghunt.com), like it on Facebook, and follow the film on Twitter @winghunt.