>>7779705
It's fashion. Some folks assume fashion only operates at the high end, the fine dining and haute couture realm. But fashion operates on a pedestrian level too. There it tends to be regional. Look at the 20th Century. It started out with hot dogs, then chili. In some places the popularity of the French bread sandwich gave us everything from the Italian hoagie to the cheese steak, to the Italian beef to the French dip to the meatball parm. By the time the burger and fries became the main fast food item Americanized Chinese food had escaped from Chinatown, and became a takeout standard across the country. Shortly after pizza and burritos made it to the hinterland. By the end of the Century Asian imports like sushi, pho, ramen and banh mi were making waves.
Wings escaped from Buffalo during the 80's, and have been spreading explosively ever since. It's a matter of fashion. They're popular now.