The Chicken Burger
The culture, controversy and community
"You have those moments of big triumph, and you get excited, but it's not about the big wins, it's about the little wins. "
- Matty Matheson Critically acclaimed chef, influenced by his love for food.
The Initial Exploration
As we attempt to find resolve in the burger debate, one thing has been made clear, chicken and beef burgers are two separate conversations.
If you have been living under a rock in the last decade, you would have missed the rise of food blogging that has taken over the internet.
Embracing the gluttonous, whilst acknowledging all things palatable, lifestyle converges with entertainment, amounting to the food blogger.
From McChickens to Zinger Boxes, highlighting the best and worst the west has to offer, "meal bloggers," continue to make a stamp on the Perth foodie scene.
Spanning the networks of digital communities, for some, communities dedicate themselves to finding truth in food - For many, this has been projected through the exploration of chicken burgers.
With numerous burger influencers tearing up the Perth scene such as bestburgersofperth, with 10k+ followers on Instagram, the phenomenon of online burger popularity says something about Perth's love for its burgs'.
With the urbanisation of Perth, we have seen some avid connoisseurs fall victim to the brutality of opening a new business, whilst for others, the leap has been a catalyst for happiness.
Burgers and their subjectivity continue to connect and divide communites, from arguments to episodes of bonding, Perth's burgs' bring comfort and routine to the populous.
Throughout my travel's around the city of Perth I have discovered that there is not a singular route to achieve chickeny goodness, for it comes from within, the appreciation of the burger.
This is so good, I think i am going to explode."
-Blake Llewellin
Tender Deluxe With No Sauce
from Hoodburger Northbridge
"I've had a lot of burger's brother. Let me just say, this one definitely tickles my fancy."
- Rasta Buckley
Tender Supreme with Ranch
from Hoodburger Northbridge
With pleasure comes sacrifice, unfortunately for the chicken burger lovers, their appreciation for the almightly chook has not been without conflict.
In my particular mission to explore the best of Perth's chicken burger realm, I often found myself immersed in the vegan debate.
After attempting to consume a vegan burger I was left sadly unsettled. Is it the prejudice that I hold towards meat...probably?
The claims of cognitive dissonance clearly apprehend my ability to enjoy meat as much as I used to. Whether or not we forgo the nuances of human existence such as salivating over a McChicken to become vegan all I know is that one thing is clear, change is difficult.
Could chicken flesh grown out of a petri dish truly be avoidant of slavery and or some form of capitalist gain...probably not. Yet the paradigm shift is nearing in which meat becomes slowly replaced by alternatives, until then the chicken burger remains.
Is the nature of veganism and the politicisation of food merely a means to evoke change in how we view notions of pleasure in our society?
Talks of life, relative morality and chicken.
Is there balance in beauty?
With 67% of Australians overweight and the 5th most obese country in the developed world, our love for fast food has come at a price.
With an increasingly digitised way of knowing, the days of sitting in a restaurant may be nearing extinction.
With UberEats and Deliveroo drivers bringing freshly fried goodness to our doors, it can be assumed we are becoming less resistant to our food temptations as a society,
Yet with small indulgences, like anything, we must ensure they are controlled.
The current fast food advertising regulations have the QSRI and RCMI only restricting unhealthy fast food content that is directly aimed at children under 14.
Inadvertently there is still more to be done in preventing overindulgence in the whole of society.
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