Lockdown Can't Contain Kiwi Burger Obsession

Even in a Level 4 lockdown, burger fiends across the country have found a way to participate in Visa Wellington On a Plate’s Garage Project presents Burger Wellington. The burger hysteria has now morphed into an online challenge to create the Capital’s most delicious lockdown burger.

Visa Wellington On a Plate, the annual month-long culinary festival was paused when the nationwide Level 4 lockdown was announced on 17 August. With more than 256 festival burgers available to diners across the Wellington Region, and the hospitality industry, five days into its 19-day stretch of Burger Wellington, it left the burger-eating public hankering for more. To put it into perspective, last year, more than 279,000 burgers were consumed over the 20 days of the Burger Wellington portion of Visa Wellington On a Plate.

In the first couple of days of lockdown, Sarah Meikle, Festival Co-founder & Director, said the Visa Wellington On a Plate team noticed a growing trend on social media with people having a go at making their very own Burger Wellington burgers at home, posting them to social media and giving the burger a moniker, much in the same way the burger-eating public does for two weeks of Visa Wellington On a Plate’s Burger Wellington. 

“So we decided to flip the proverbial burger and make it official by directly challenging Burger Wellington fans at home to make their own Burger WellingtINs, and reward them for it!” she says.

Burger WellingtIN sees burger fiends/at home chefs creating their own Burger WellingtIN burgers at home, sharing them on social media and critiquing their own burgers. They can enter by tagging burger posts with @wellyonaplate and @garageproject and hashtagging #BurgerWellingtIN and #LockdownBurgerWelly on both Facebook and Instagram. A daily winner will be declared and receive a Garage Project prize pack via contactless delivery to their door.

More than 200 entries were generated in three days from as far afield as Hamilton, with one entry titled “Sorry About Lockdown” from Sydney. Other burger names include The Ashley Shroomfield, South Coast Umami Warning, The Bhaji Smuggler and (Can’t Beet) Wellington On a Good Day.

Festival organisers pick the top three daily Burger WellingtIN entries, with finalists competing in a post-lockdown cook-off, where burgers will be judged by past winners of Best Burger in Garage Project presents Burger Wellington.

Ms. Meikle said "We thought this was a wonderful tribute to Garage Project presents Burger Wellington, as well as an engaging way of staying connected to the spirit of the festival whilst we’re all in lockdown. We’re hoping this fun, social interaction gets diners excited to get back out there and support the hospitality industry when Burger Wellington can start up again at Levels 1 and 2.

“It's been really entertaining to see people flipping the tables and showing off some incredible culinary creativity too - we’ve been really impressed with so many of the entries, and it’s led to our own heated internal debates on who to crown as winners! So, we encourage everyone to get cooking some delicious creations - and remind everyone to be kind in their culinary critiquing." 

Look for Burger WellingtIN entries on Facebook and Instagram under the hashtags #BurgerWellingtIN #LockdownBurgerWelly, as well as posts tagged @wellyonaplate and @garageproject.