The fairy bread burger is the latest entrant in the new decade’s dumbest burger experiments.
This time of year tends to encourage a range of misguided flag-waving stunts. The culinary world is not immune to this virus, and we’ve seen some doozies so far.
Last week, Adelaide’s Chuck Wagon 175 unveiled the lamington burger, which has been available all week leading up to January 26. The ingredients of this suspect creation were listed on Instagram: “Double beef, double bacon, double cheese between two Aussie lamingtons!”
Penrith burger bar Downtown Brooklyn has also joined the perversity, as Awol reports. Downtown Brooklyn is already home to the Big Poppa, a towering creation that wedges four pieces of Wagyu beef, four pieces of American cheese and four pieces of maple bacon in between a milk bun.
Given the holiday ahead, Downtown Brooklyn contrived some national pride to come up with the fairy bread burger. It consists of two Wagyu patties, two pieces of maple bacon and two slices of American Cheese, all contained within a buttered fairy bread doughnut.
Forget change the date. If this is what the late-January public holiday means to people, we’d be better off canning it altogether.
Watch: Why You Should Eat Your Way Through Australia
Ok, ok, I know it’s all just a bit of fun. But a few words before you completely dismiss me as grumpy and unadventurous. Culinary experimentation is wonderful. But what’s notable here is that both Chuck Wagon 175 and Downtown Brooklyn are American-style restaurants.
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DB claims to offer that “real Downtown Brooklyn experience,” while CW175 says its mission is “to introduce American style street foods,” to Australian diners.
That’s all fine, but why does the prospect of making something Australian lead places like this to immediately clutch for tired signifiers of national identity? I think we can find a middle ground that prizes Australian innovation without descending into the realm of gimmickry. Or, you know, just stick a Chiko roll in a hot dog bun and carry on like it’s 1955.
