Australian Buffalo Wing Festival: Q&A With Director Bill Vanderent

26 August 2015 | 4:06 pm | Staff Writer

Wing lovers, prepare your bodies. The Buffalo Wing Festival is happening across Brisbane from 2-5 Sep. Ahead of the delicious event, we chatted to Festival Director Bill Vanderent.

Where did you get the idea to dedicate a whole festival to buffalo wings?

Where a lot of ideas are created: over a beer and wings with some friends! I figured there were plenty of other festivals around for beer, cider, food and wine, and figured why not have a Buffalo Wing Festival too? After a bit of looking around and seeing that no one else had done it in Australia, I figured, why not!

Did you just call all the vendors up and ask if they wanted to be included? How did that go down?

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Some of them I already knew and pitched the idea to them. They were well keen and came on board pretty quickly. Some I approached directly whose wings I loved, and once word got out, vendors started approaching us.

Do you remember how you felt the first time you discovered buffalo wings?

I do indeed. It was at Hooters in San Francisco, and despite what could be classed as distracting décor, the thing that stuck in my mind was just how great the tangy, buttery flavour was. And the more beers I had, the more wings I wanted! Win-win! Like a match made in heaven. Since then if they're on the menu of wherever I'm going, I have a hard time picking anything else.

Why are buffalo wings better than other kinds of wings? What's your personal favourite way to eat buffalo wings?

The flavours you get in a buffalo wing are surprisingly complex and varied. Some have a lot of heat, some are very buttery, some dust their wings for a crunchy coating, some fry their wings without a coating. You can get into very heated discussions about how buffalo wings should be, but at the end of the day, if the taste and texture are there then why argue! Not only that, there's so many variants of wings too. Sweet BBQ flavours, super-hot chilli versions, even wings smothered in American gooey cheese! This festival isn't just about the "buffalo" flavour, but celebrates all of the unique creations these chefs come up with to complement their menus.

My favourite? I'm a dusted-wing kinda guy, so it's got a nice crunchy coating. I like my wings spicy, but not too spicy, and served with a nice chunky blue cheese dressing. Heat from the wings, cooled off by the dressing. Rinse and repeat!

Give us a bit of a rundown on what we can expect at the festival.

We've got 21 vendors across four regions, and the festival runs for four days. We've split it up into regions over a number of days so it gives people a chance to drive around and try as many of the different styles of wings as they can from places outside of the CBD.

Each of the vendors are putting on taster deals like six wings and a beer for $10, so you can try just a few and move onto the next place. There's also more substantial $15 and $20 deals if there's a few of you. The general idea behind the festival is to grab a few wings and a drink, enjoy, then try more at the next venue. Wings, drinks and walking with friends: kind of like a tasty pub crawl!

For the Friday at Southbank/West End, we've been fortunate enough to have a lot of vendors within walking distance or a short bus/cab/Uber to each other. Same goes for the Saturday event as well. On the Saturday night, we'll be having a wrap up event at the Yardbird Valley, where we'll have a chicken wing eating competition, we'll announce the winner of an awesome first prize provided by Brisbane Bandits to one lucky People's Choice Awards voter, more giveaways, and of course heaps of wings!

For more information and a list of participating vendors, visit buffalowing.com.au.