Fowl play over chicken wings, thanks to the pandemic

Thanks to the pandemic, the word ‘shortage’ has enjoyed a seasonal revival as research into its usage during 2020-21 will doubtless corroborate.

From PPE kits and masks to hospital beds and ventilators, that dreaded word has been a call to action for slothful agencies and officials.

So far, it has not been whipped out in the case of vaccines and syringes despite murmurs about the sluggish pace of administration of injections in the west, though inadequate inoculators remain a concern. But the latest shortage in the US is rather unexpected: chicken wings.


Major sports events are often linked to specific food items, such as strawberries and cream during the Wimbledon tennis fortnight and hilsa or prawns after a Mohun Bagan-East Bengal football face-off.

But since the dates of such tournaments are known long beforehand, businesses squawking ‘shortage’ a couple of weeks ahead of the US Super Bowl appears suspect.

As the congregational consumption of vast quantities of chicken wings is a crucial part of the ritual of fans watching at home, or ‘tailgating’, it would be birdbrained for supermarkets and restaurants not to stockpile them as demand had risen during the pandemic, probably due to all that extra screen time.

Moreover, as only one part of the bird seems to be in short supply, price-related fowl play cannot be ruled out.