Buffaloes have no wings

There is no chicken in the sea: 12 food items with highly deceiving names

Image: Kawin Harasai

Comedian Jerry Seinfeld said, in one of his standup routines, that there is no chicken in the sea—and he was right. Some foods have names that don’t quite tell the truth. They might hint at ingredients they don’t contain, places they’ve never been, or shapes they don’t actually take. Here are 12 examples where the menu description doesn’t match the bite.

Image: Angela Bailey

The name might conjure an image of a seafaring hen, but this well-known brand is all about tuna. The "chicken" part simply refers to its mild flavor.

Marketed as an affordable, accessible protein, the label’s poultry-inspired twist has fooled many. In reality, it’s firmly in the fish family.

Image: Andrik Langfield

Sweetbreads might sound like a dessert, but they’re cuts of organ meat, usually the thymus or pancreas of calves or lambs.

Despite the misleading name, these delicacies are prized in gourmet cooking for their mild flavor and tender texture, not for any sweetness or breadiness.

Image: Sargent Seal

Perhaps there was a time when the Rocky Mountains were under the sea and oysters could be found there, but that is no longer the case. There is no seafood here. These so-called oysters are actually bull testicles, a specialty in certain parts of North America.

Often breaded and fried, they are served as a novelty dish at festivals and ranch gatherings, catching the unsuspecting diner off guard.

Image: Alexander Faé

It should come as no surprise that buffalo wings have nothing to do with buffalo meat; they’re chicken wings deep-fried and coated in spicy sauce.

The name comes from Buffalo, New York, where the dish was first created in the 1960s, not from any grazing plains animal.

Image: David Trinks

Another name that makes no sense at all, head cheese contains no cheese. It’s a meat terrine made from parts of a pig’s head.

Seasoned and set in its own gelatin, it’s a traditional cold cut in many European cuisines.

Image: Ella Olsson

The name of this soup gives us a hint of its deceiving nature. It was created to mimic the flavor of green turtle soup, a luxury dish of the 18th and 19th centuries.

Instead of turtle, it uses a calf’s head or other meats, producing a rich broth without requiring the real reptile.

Image: Dex Ezekiel

Though called a pie, this dessert is actually a cake, with layers of sponge, custard filling, and chocolate glaze.

Its "pie" title dates back to a time when pies and cakes were baked in the same types of pans and the terms were used more loosely.

Image: Andrijana Bozic

Despite its name, you won’t find grapes or nuts in Grape-Nuts; the cereal is made from wheat and barley.

Its name likely refers to the naturally occurring sugars formed during baking and the nutty flavor of its crunchy nuggets.

Image: Mateusz Feliksik

As far as we know, hot dogs contain no canine meat, just a blend of beef, pork, or poultry in a sausage casing.

The name’s origins are debated, but the term became popular in the early 20th century through ballpark vendors and cartoons.

Image: Louis Hansel

French fries may not be French at all, as many historians credit Belgium with their invention.

The "French" in the name may refer to the style of cutting the potatoes into thin strips before frying, or to the fact that Allied soldiers who first encountered these delicious treats heard the Belgians speaking French.

Image: Matthew McBrayer

This fancifully named food isn’t duck but a type of fish found in the waters around Mumbai, India.

Dried and salted, it has a strong aroma and is considered a delicacy in certain regional cuisines.

Image: Towfiqu barbhuiya

Our final entry goes to another famous food. Despite its name, peanut butter contains no dairy butter; it’s simply roasted peanuts ground into a paste.

The "butter" label refers to its smooth, spreadable consistency, not to any relation to milk or cream.

Some names stick around

From Table Tap Joe to Ziggy Stardust: Who are the best song characters?

Sometimes, a character is the perfect alter-ego to write a song about oneself without self-referencing so much. Other times, a character is just a character. Over the years, musicians have come up with lonely dreamers, fearless heroes, mysterious strangers, and even supernatural villains who have become just as famous as the songs themselves. Some were inspired by real people, others sprang entirely from imagination, but all of them left a lasting mark on music history. Which of these 12 do you remember?

Tom Waits has always had a soft spot for society's oddballs, and few are even stranger than Table Top Joe. Introduced on the 2002 album Alice, Joe is born with only a head and hands, yet grows into a brilliant piano player whose extraordinary talent earns him fame despite the odds stacked against him.

The song unfolds like a forgotten American folk tale, complete with references to Coney Island's legendary Dreamland amusement park and composer Igor Stravinsky. Although many listeners assume the story is based on an old carnival legend, Table Top Joe is entirely Tom Waits' own creation.

Few fictional musicians have ever become as famous as Ziggy Stardust. Introduced in 1972, Ziggy is an alien rock star sent to Earth shortly before humanity's end, only to be consumed by the very fame that makes him a savior to millions.

David Bowie blurred the line between fiction and reality by performing as Ziggy onstage for more than a year. When he unexpectedly announced Ziggy's retirement during a concert at London's Hammersmith Odeon in 1973, many fans believed the character, and perhaps Bowie himself, had truly reached the end of the story.

Tommy Walker isn't just the hero of a song, he's the central figure of one of rock music's first great operas. After witnessing a traumatic event as a child, Tommy becomes deaf, mute, and blind, yet somehow develops astonishing pinball skills that transform him into an unlikely celebrity.

Pete Townshend built an entire musical world around Tommy, exploring themes of trauma, faith, and redemption. First released in 1969, Tommy later became a hit film, a Broadway production, and one of the most influential concept albums ever recorded.

Johnny B. Goode is every aspiring musician's dream. Growing up in rural Louisiana with little more than a guitar and natural talent, he plays so brilliantly that listeners predict "his name will be in lights."

Chuck Berry based the character partly on himself and partly on pianist Johnnie Johnson. Originally described as a "colored boy," Johnny became a "country boy" in the final lyrics, making the song more likely to receive airplay during the segregation era. Nearly two decades later, Johnny's anthem would even travel into space aboard NASA's Voyager Golden Record.

Few fictional characters have captured loneliness as powerfully as Eleanor Rigby. She quietly moves through life unnoticed, while Father McKenzie delivers sermons that no one hears, creating one of popular music's saddest portraits of isolation.

Paul McCartney later explained that Eleanor's name came from actress Eleanor Bron and the Liverpool shop Rigby & Evens. The discovery of an actual Eleanor Rigby gravestone in Liverpool only deepened the song's mystique, though McCartney maintained the coincidence was unintentional.

Billie Jean may be one of pop music's most famous women, yet Michael Jackson insisted she wasn't a real person. Instead, she represented several women who falsely claimed that he had fathered their children during the height of the Jackson 5's fame.

Released in 1983 as part of Thriller, the song became a global phenomenon. It also provided the stage for Jackson's legendary moonwalk during Motown 25.

Unlike many legendary song characters, Stagger Lee actually existed. His real name was Lee Shelton, a St. Louis criminal who murdered Billy Lyons during an argument over a hat on Christmas Eve in 1895.

The shocking crime quickly entered American folklore through countless folk songs before Lloyd Price transformed it into a chart-topping hit in 1958. More than a century later, Stagger Lee remains one of the most enduring antiheroes in American music.

Tom Dooley was inspired by Thomas Dula, a Confederate veteran executed in North Carolina in 1868 after being convicted of murdering Laura Foster. His surname was locally pronounced "Dooley," giving the ballad its familiar title.

The Kingston Trio revived the old Appalachian folk song in 1958, turning it into an international hit and helping launch America's folk music revival.

When the narrator of "Lola" meets an intriguing stranger in a Soho nightclub, expectations quickly give way to surprise. Ray Davies crafted one of rock's earliest mainstream stories exploring gender ambiguity, decades before the topic entered popular conversation.

The recording rarely reached British radio. Because BBC rules prohibited commercial product names, Davies had to interrupt a U.S. tour and fly back to London simply to replace the lyric "Coca-Cola" with the now-famous "cherry cola."

Unlike most famous song characters, the Piano Man is really Billy Joel himself. Before becoming a superstar, Joel spent six months in 1972 and 1973 performing under the pseudonym Bill Martin at the Executive Room, a piano bar in Los Angeles, after becoming trapped in a bad recording contract. The song transforms those experiences into a bittersweet portrait of ordinary people searching for escape at the end of another week.

Joel has said that virtually every character in the song was based on a real person, from bartender John to "Paul, the real estate novelist" and Davy, who really was in the Navy. Yet the Piano Man himself became the story's most enduring character: a quiet observer who offers music as a brief refuge for dreamers, lonely souls, and regulars alike. More than fifty years after its 1973 release, "Piano Man" remains Billy Joel's signature song, and its title has effectively become his lifelong nickname.

Standing nearly seven feet tall and missing an arm, Amos Moses roams the Louisiana swamps hunting alligators. Jerry Reed filled the song with colorful Southern expressions and exaggerated storytelling that make Amos feel like an authentic folk legend.

Although fictional, Amos embodies the larger-than-life heroes found throughout American tall tales. His adventures turned the song into one of Reed's biggest crossover hits and secured Amos a permanent place among country music's greatest characters.

Big Bad John hardly says a word, but he doesn't have to. The towering coal miner earns everyone's respect through quiet strength before sacrificing his own life to save fellow workers when a mine collapses.

Jimmy Dean's 1961 ballad became a smash hit, winning a Grammy and inspiring several sequel songs. More than sixty years later, Big Bad John still stands as one of country music's defining working-class heroes.