I’ve got burger brain, bad.

I know, it’s not very “Seasoned Traveller” of me. Usually I’m chasing underappreciated cuisines and lesser-known national dishes, but hear me out: everything was lesser known at some point. When burgers gained popularity in Australia after WWII, Aussies couldn’t get enough of them. Nearly a century later, I can’t help but wonder why we are still so bloody excited – so much so, that an independent operator can open a burger window, go viral, flip almost 1000 patties a day, and win a global award – in just two months. More on that below.

In the name of Eating Curiously, what could be more curious than people queuing for a burger in 2025? Burgers might be the ultimate cultural barometer, reflecting global alliances and biases, the state of the economy, and the sway of social media. Even if you don’t fall down a research rabbit hole like me, I bet you have a burger memory.

Mine is begging mum to buy me yet another Happy Meal after swimming lessons, swearing that this time, I will totallydefinitelyactually eat the thing, instead of just pocketing the plastic toy (sorry mum, sucked in). For my dad, who would have turned 67 this Sunday, it was rattling off the Big Mac ingredients in under a few seconds – “Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun” – to win a freebee back in the ‘70s.

I wanted to know more, so this week I chatted to the biggest names in burgers and wrote a complete history of the burger and what’s next. That led me to a brilliant story about Melbourne’s only purveyor of viral UFO burgers (spoiler alert: it’s an Indian vegetarian food truck). And that, in turn, got me thinking about condiments – a perfect segue to sharing a recipe from Rosheen Kaul’s new cookbook, Secret Sauce. Would you like fries with that?

P.S. I’m off to eat my way around South Australia next week, so stay tuned for tips in my next newsletter. Recommendations also welcome!

When I learned that a new burger window in Brunswick East was flipping almost 1000 burgers a day, I was intrigued. It felt like more than a trend to me, because the fact is, Australia has been obsessed with burgers for nearly 100 years. What you see on TikTok isn’t actually that different to what people ate during 19th century American fairs — and even in Ancient Rome. But how did burgers get here? And where are they going? I asked some of the biggest names in the biz for their take. This one is for the die-hard food nerds, like me.