Hot Dog, Taco, Hamburger
Part of a series on Kirby. [View Related Entries]
This submission is currently being researched & evaluated!
You can help confirm this entry by contributing facts, media, and other evidence of notability and mutation.
About
Hot Dog, Taco, Hamburger is a series of memes based on a scene from Kirby: Right Back At Ya! in which King DeDeDe looks through a menu prepared by Escargoon and complains that the only three available items are hot dogs, tacos or hamburgers. The scene comes from episode 59, "The Meal Moocher," which aired in Japan in 2002 and North America in 2003. In 2023, the scene first became the subject of memes, becoming increasingly popular over the following years. As a catchphrase,"hot dog, taco, hamburger" is sometimes used as a synonym for "hype moments and aura," to suggest that a TV series or other media series lacks substance, has a lot of filler and is repetitive, but is enjoyable regardless as a casual, "turn your brain off" watch.
Origin
On November 30th, 2002, episode 59 of Kirby: Right Back At Ya!, "The Meal Moocher," aired in Japan, later airing in North America on December 13th, 2003. In the episode, King DeDeDe holds a contest that involves cooking and serving food to him, after he grows tired of the usual menu at the castle. In one scene where DeDeDe expresses this frustration, he looks through the castle menu and complains, "hot dog, taco, hamburger. You only got three things on this menu!"[1]
On July 29th, 2023, Redditor u/Excellent_Gift_8167 posted a meme to /r/whenthe[2] consisting of the scene under top text reading, "American restaurants according to non Americans:," garnering over 3,800 upvotes in two years. This is the earliest known meme to use the scene.
Hot dog, Taco, Hamburger
byu/Excellent_Gift_8167 inwhenthe
Spread
On March 8th, 2025, TikToker[3] @vokieo posted a meme referencing and criticizing the anime series Solo Leveling captioned, "Solo Leveling after 50 chapters," garnering over 898,000 views in two weeks. On March 10th, X[4] user @jb141_ reposted the meme, writing, "dawg i've been laughing for the past 4 hours," garnering over 129,000 likes in 10 days.
@vokieo Shameless repost #vokieo #foryoupage #anime #sololeveling #fyp #foryou #shonen #jujutsukaisen ♬ admire the perc – !
On March 11th, X[5] user @EvelynInaba quoted the post, writing, "can we start saying hot dog taco hamburger instead of hype moments and aura," garnering over 55,000 likes and 4,200 reposts in a week.
That same day, X[6] user @espewastooshort posted an edit of the "Can a Robot Write a Symphony?" meme as a response to @Evelynlnaba's post, garnering over 5,500 likes in a week.
On March 13th, X[7] user @KrimsonAnt posted another version of the same meme, this time replacing the characters in the I, Robot scene with King DeDeDe and a Waddle Dee, garnering over 15,000 likes in a week.
Various Examples
@powwa22222 album sofawkingahh 💔💔💔🥀🥀| #carti #iammusic #hotdogtacohamburger #fyp ♬ original sound – thetuyufan
@sap1entt I just realized #hotdog #taco #hamburger #kirby #anime #fyp #fypシ #meme ♬ NO SOUND – Sok Baraby
