If you’ve ever ended up on the wrong side of an Australians customs official, you’ll know why they are considered some of the strictest in the world. Accidentally brought back a shell necklace? Left some dirt on your hiking shoes? Be afraid.

So you might feel some sympathies for lovers of Roquefort – a French cheese that found itself at the heart of an import saga that saw the blue banished from our shores. But, thanks to the first family of Australian cheese, Roquefort is back on the cheese board. And for a short time only at cult Sydney burger chain, Mary’s, it’s even found its way onto a burger.

Related recipe: Fire up the oven for these Roquefort roast potatoes

So what’s the stink all about? If Parmigiano Reggiano is the king of Italian cheese, then Roquefort is the messiah of French cheese. Thought to be the originator of all blue cheese, the penicillium roqueforti that makes this blue cheese funky in the best possible way is only sourced from the Roquefort Caves in southern France, where only a handful of cheesemakers still operate. Roquefort’s downfall in Australia, however, was because it is made with raw sheep’s milk – with the Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) decreeing that raw milk cheese from un-pasteurised milk be banned backin 2002.

The leading importer of fine French cheeses in Australia at the time, Will Studd, took exception to this rule, and promptly imported 80kg of premium French Roquefort into Melbourne, starting a stoush that ended with Studd staging an elaborate funeral to carry out the mandated deep-burial of his illicit haul. Two years later, he had his victory when Roquefort was granted an exemption, with further raw milk cheese bans lifted in 2015 and ongoing relaxations on domestic production continuing still.

More than two decades after Will Studd’s ripe rebellion, cheese experts and delicious. columnists Ellie and Sam Studd continue to fly the flag for Roquefort, and everything their father was standing for.  “He wasn’t just fighting for Aussies right to eat Roquefort and raw milk cheese; he was fighting for our bigger freedom to choose what we eat,” Ellie says. In honour of the original Roquefort Rebel, the siblings have collaborated on a limited-edition burger at Sydney burger purveyor Mary’s – the Le Punk Roquer.

Taking a Mary’s fat patty, fig and onion relish and salt ‘n vinegar potato straws, the Studds have added a wodge of legendary ‘Le Roi’ Roquefort, lending the ‘assertive yet balanced salty kick’ of Roquefort to the rich, rounded mouth-feel of premium beef and creating the ultimate blue cheeseburger.

The Le Punk Roquer is available now at all Mary’s outlets until 4 November.