Those greasy, spicy chicken wings have been the mainstay of every sports bar for decades, and more recently have infiltrated every home sports-watching event. Super Bowl Sunday, according to the National Chicken Council (who knew there is such a thing?), alone accounts for the consumption 1.25 billion of them — that’s 100 tons’ worth. But the name is somewhat mystifying: buffalo wings obviously don’t come from buffalo (despite a few Super Bowl television advertisements trying to show the creatures with tiny angelic wings.) But they did come from the city of Buffalo, New York.

On this day, October 3, in 1964, Teressa Bellissimo, the proprietor of the family-owned Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York, took a handful of chicken wings, covered them in her homemade sauce, and served with them a side of blue cheese and celery — the only things she had on hand.

What exactly inspired the event is less clear, though the competing stories by Teressa’s husband Franc and son Dominic do not necessarily contradict. According to Franc the restaurant received a shipment of chicken wings, instead of other parts, by mistake, and had to improvise. Dominic said his mother first created the snack at his behest, after he asked for something to eat after drinking with friends. The city of Buffalo does not care which story is true, they have been celebrating Chicken Wing Day since 1977.