“In many ways, Benny,” Juliana said, turning to face him, “your burger wasn’t as good. Technically. It didn’t taste like something made by a highly trained gourmet chef.”

Benny nodded and tried to smile, but he cast his eyes down to the ground.

“Yesh, well, sometimesh the truth hurtsh,” said René. Bodley Bonkers, next to him, nodded sadly. But not that sadly.

Juliana ignored them and continued to look at Benny. She crouched down, to his eye level. “But there was something about yours . . . some quality I can’t quite name. In the taste.”

Benny slowly looked up.

She smiled at him, giving him that wide, generous smile. “It had . . . heart. It moved me. Eating your burger made me feel warm and happy and comforted. It was like a great big hug.”

“Oh,” said Benny. “Thank you.”

Juliana straightened up and faced the crowd.

“Excushe me,” said René coldly. “Are you suggeshting that my burger didn’t have heart? That it washn’t like a great big hug?”

“Well,” she said. “You do the maths.”

“No, I have a potato chef to do the mash.”

“Maths, René.”

“Anyway it doesh have heart in it. Cow heart.”

“That’s awful,” said Mina.

“Offal, yes,” said Bodley.

“Anyway!” said Juliana. “At the moment, to be honest, it’s a draw.”

The crowd let out a collective sigh of frustration. They’d been waiting for a while now and they wanted a winner.

“But . . .” Juliana raised a hand to quieten the impatient audience. “I need to ask one question that may help me work out a winner.”

She turned to René von Rathsack. “René, I’ve heard a lot from you about your meat . . . where it came from, how expensive it was, and so on.”

“Oh, yesh. But there wash fifteen minutshe more, as I shaid, and what I didn’t tell you was that—”

“No, I don’t need to know any more,” Juliana said firmly. She turned to the Lenny’s Burgers van. “What I do need to know though, Benny, is . . . where did you get your meat for your burger?”

“Oh,” said Benny. “Um . . .” His eyes flicked to Mina, who was standing in front of the van. She met his gaze and did a little fist pump . . . which meant: go for it.

“Local organic butcher’s? Farmers’ market?” Juliana offered. “A supermarket, perhaps?”

Benny cleared his throat and spoke at last: “It’s . . . uh . . . a vegan burger.”

There was an audible gasp from the crowd. The word “vegan” was being whispered a lot, along with “Not meat?” and “I can’t believe it!” and “Eh?”

Juliana frowned. “Vegan?”

“Yes,” said Benny. “My friend Mina got the vegan mince. That’s what I used to make the basic patty.”

Mina waved a nervous hand at Juliana.

“But then,” Benny went on, “to make it more meat-like, I added some garlic and herbs and seasoning . . . and kneaded it by hand . . . and . . . stuff.”

Juliana looked stunned.

Meanwhile, René walked over to Benny. “You went up againsht me – René von Rathsack – with a . . . a vegan burger?”

Benny nodded.

“Pah!” uttered René, turning away. “What kind of competition ish this?”

“Well,” said Bodley to Juliana, “I think that’s that, isn’t it? I mean, really. It seems clear to me just from that information alone who the winner should be.”

Juliana took a long look at him, and then nodded. She turned to the crowd.

“You’re correct, Bodley. I declare the winner of this fry-off—”

“The Bracket Wood Bonkers Fry-off, sponsored by Bonkers Burgers!” said Bodley Bonkers, running over to René, to stand by him for the special moment of announcement.

“The winner is,” Juliana declared, “Benny!”