Meet the winners of the SBS and Diversity in Food Media Competition

We received a treasure trove of entries that showed us the transporting power of food. Let's meet the winners of our competition.

Yeli Chuan's creation, 'Trip Down Memory Lane'. Source: Yeli Chuan/@yellymonsta

The SBS and Diversity In Food Media Australia Competition was launched in February, with a 'Journey through food' theme. By the time the deadline closed in May, we received countless stories, artworks and audio recordings that transported us across borders, mealtimes and lifespans. 

Thanks to our brilliant judges – cookbook author Hetty McKinnon, broadcaster Rae Johnston, creative director Evi. O, Audiocraft co-founder Kate Montague, and SBS Food managing editor Farah Celjo – we finally have our winners.

Let's meet Ange Seen Yang, Yeli Chuan, Tess Chung and Annabel Boyer.

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Ange Seen Yang (winner of the written category)

Ange Seen Yang grew up in Perth, where she quickly learnt how to take care of her appetite. "Food – both eating and learning how to cook – were necessary skills to balance the chaos of two working parents, school terms and a fly-in, fly-out schedule," she says. Her mum's food-prioritising attitude ("you can't get things done if you don't eat and if you're going to eat, you should eat things you like") led to some convenient side effects at home: everyone levelled up their dinner-making abilities, but also recognised the importance of making time to catch up over food, too.  

Yang's winning competition entry is about the power (and humour) of connecting over a table and trying to decode a restaurant's menu with her mum. 'A (very fancy) pasta pit stop' recalls them being equally stumped by what agnolotti and crostoli mean and needing to be rescued by Google. But for Yang, there's also an emotional significance in being able to explain crudo, frìtole and mascarpone to her mother – it's a linguistic role-reversal of all the times her mum has translated items in the Chinese grocer to her.

Yang was compelled to enter the competition after her friend sent her a link about it. She describes her writing relationship as a "familiar story" for anyone juggling their interest in the craft with pay-the-bills commitments. "[I] always wanted to write, but it got relegated to a late-night hobby with the messiness of work. The most consistent 'writing' practice I've maintained is journaling, from being a kid obsessed with documenting the past (I had a password journal, scrapbook and all!) to now."

'A (very fancy) pasta pit stop' was actually inspired by a diary entry she'd scribbled after a spontaneous dinner with her mum earlier this year. 

"I started writing about the food we ate, but found that the conversations we shared were what made the dinner memorable," she says. The experience also illustrates food's multi-ticketed ways of sending us on different journeys – through time, culture and different versions of ourselves.

I started writing about the food we ate, but found that the conversations we shared were what made the dinner memorable.

The writer hopes readers take away several things from her story, including "the warmth that comes with sharing the things you love – food or otherwise – with the people you care about".

You can find more of Yang's writing in Zou Mat Je, WA Good Food Guide, Colournary Magazine and her Vegemite In My Congee newsletter.

 

Yeli Chuan (winner of the visual category)

"I grew up in Singapore, the land of amazing hawker food," says Melbourne-based illustrator Yeli Chuan. "My grandfather was a Hainanese cook during the colonial times, so that love for cooking and delicious food definitely trickled down the family culture." 

She's taken Singaporean flavours she's savoured and given them the funhouse treatment for Trip Down Memory Lane, her competition entry. It's kaleidoscopic and inviting, like a poster for a carnival or amusement park. 

"The three Chinese characters "吃了吗" (have you eaten) are the regular greeting that my parents say to me even to this day," she says.

The artist wanted to build her "food-journey funscape" around this beloved saying. Viewers end up travelling through a swirl of Pocky biscuits, fruity gum balls, strands of noodles and wanton mee, pineapple tarts, White Rabbit lollies, kueh tutu, wheel crackers, iced gem biscuits, hawthorn slices, Potong ice-cream, pandan chiffon cake and more.

"I moved to Melbourne about nine years ago, and I dealt with my immense homesickness by making my favourite local dishes from scratch in this then-foreign country," she says. Food can shape our identities in meaningful yet contrasting ways, and that's something the illustrator hopes people might recognise in her work.

There's a different food journey for everyone, and it's a beautiful thing to share!

"There's a different food journey for everyone, and it's a beautiful thing to share!" she says. "Every piece shared contributes to a diverse landscape of food and culture – it differentiates yet unifies us as humans. It humbles us as no cuisine is better than another, they're just different and it's a fascinating thing."

Chuan has enjoyed drawing from a young age ("I joined the Art Club in high school rather than some sport"), but only started taking part in exhibitions and focusing on digital illustration and design in recent years.

She has illustrated for Colournary Magazine, award-winning podcast Shoes Off, and is continuing her '100 Days of Food' challenge on her Instagram account. "I do hope to collaborate with other like-minded people on food-related projects, do reach out if you're keen to! If you would like to follow my journey, hop onto @yellymonsta on Instagram!"

 

Tess Chung (winner of the visual category)

"Food has never simply been fuel in my household," says Canberra-born artist Tess Chung. "Eating duck pancakes and shantung lamb on my birthday at the same restaurant my parents went to when they were dating, and eating my mum's suet puddings atop a rich casserole, are some of my fondest memories."

She credits her parents' cultural roots for exposing her to many cuisines when growing up ("my heritage on my mother's side is British, and my father's side is Chinese-Malaysian"), and these connections have also inspired her winning competition entry.

"My piece, Tourist, reflects the experience that is navigating the world as someone who is half-white and half-Asian, trying to find a sense of belonging. I intended for the two spreads of dishes to represent how I feel that others perceive me ­which is ultimately how I perceive myself," she says.

'Tourist', by Tess Chung Source: Tess Chung/@lapetitebao

In her artwork, the artist intentionally overlaid Eastern and Western dishes with comparable features.  

"For example, the bao and the burger function quite similarly, with the fluffy buns housing meat, vegetables and sauce. In doing so, I hoped to communicate the notion that both sides of my heritage are simply two sides of the same coin that is me," she says. "I hope my work is able to speak to someone in a similar position, allowing for them to perhaps feel less alone in what I, at least, find to often be an isolating experience."

I hoped to communicate the notion that both sides of my heritage are simply two sides of the same coin that is me.

Chung is quite upfront about feeling like an "imposter" in relation to her Asian heritage.

"I can read and write only in English, and I know very little of Chinese culture, tradition and celebrations barring what my family practises during Chinese New Year. As I've attempted to reconcile this, food has remained a steadfast line that has tethered me to a culture I carry with me but have limited lived experiences with," she says. "I can eat grandmama's curry puffs, have satay and roti canai with my father at Mamak, indulge in char siu bao and connect with my heritage through the simple acts of consumption and taste."

Her professional interest in art began at age 11, when she first dreamed of becoming an animator. As a year 11 student in 2020, she won the University of Canberra Creative Competition with Eating Out, a tribute to her father's pursuit of the "bestest" pho and other Asian dishes worth queuing for. Chung credits her Year 12 visual arts teacher for tracking her down – many months after finishing high school – and encouraging her to enter the SBS and Diversity In Food Media Australia Competition.

Today, at age 19, she's not so certain about wanting to be an animator, but remains a fan of "visual arts in all its forms".

"In the future, I would like to work to bring others' visions to life, lending my artistic voice to tell stories that aren't just my own."

 

Annabel Boyer (winner of the audio category)

"I'm alive, I love food," says Annabel Boyer, who is from Canberra and studied journalism. "I get excited about new recipes and cookbooks in the same way I get excited about travel and exploring new places."

While she's created occasional audio work in the past (including a long-form piece for Radio National's 360 Documentaries about attending a Himalayan boarding school during her childhood), "it's something I'm always meaning to do more of", she says. 

Boyer learnt about the competition through Audiocraft and recalls submitting her entry an hour before the deadline. "I was completely surprised to win."

I get excited about new recipes and cookbooks in the same way I get excited about travel and exploring new places.

Her successful entry is inspired by her current household status.

"As someone who lives alone, I do feel frustrated that I don't always have a crowd or extended family to try out new recipes over. So I guess I was thinking about that and I suddenly realised that experiences like mine – solo food journeys – [are] just not something that's represented anywhere."

She hopes to develop Solo Food Journeys into a podcast and has already recorded interviews with four friends who live alone. "They range in ages from mid-30s to 70s," she says. "A Slovenian friend doing a PhD who eats copious amounts of meat is upset I didn't speak to him!"

Their life circumstances vary from a health-conscious vegetarian who has always lived alone ("and loves it") to a divorcee who is a new convert to cooking.

"People spoke about having systems for using up waste, the freedom in 'alone time', there was also a lot about what you can put on toast," says Boyer. A friend who'd recently become a single dad really stood out to her, because he "struggles with the seesaw of making the effort for himself and just being able to do what he wants". 

He also has to cook for his daughter, who visits on weekends. "I loved talking to him because there was no pretension around food and it was beautifully authentic and hilarious – a single dad doing his best."

Boyer recently quit her day job and has other projects on the go – but is unsure whether they'll get an audience. She's certain, though, about her hopes to change people's misconceptions about single-person households with Solo Food Journeys. 

"I do think that the experiences of people living alone are somewhat marginalised, so I hope that this piece helps to dispel any of the prejudices that do exist, showing that their lives are rich and varied and full."

 

Find out more about the 'Journey through food' Competition here.

 

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