- Find out more about the competition:
literally personifies the theme: her cookbook career began when she hopped on a bike to to locals in her Sydney neighbourhood. Sure, interest was slow to start with – she only received four orders at first and wheeled them in a granny cart to her customers. But eventually, her menus started selling out in 10 minutes. As she cycled around her inner-city suburb, dropping off mega-flavoured, ingredient-stacked salads, she ended up getting many recipe requests. It inspired her to self-publish her first cookbook called .
Although she had an enthusiastic fan base in her neighbourhood, McKinnon didn't expect Community to be a runaway success. She assumed she'd have boxes of unsold books in her home for a long time.
But her first print run actually disappeared in three and a half weeks. A publisher picked up Community and it ended up selling more than 100,000 copies, leading to a in 2019 and inspiring people worldwide: one woman in Barcelona even began a vegan lunch delivery service after seeing the hearty salads in the book. (Soba noodles with spicy fried edamame and eggplant, anyone?)
McKinnon's journey through food might have started on a bike in Sydney's Surry Hills, but her recipes have since travelled far beyond the surrounding blocks. She's since written more cookbooks (, the award-winning and her latest, , which she also photographed). The author has launched a multicultural food magazine, , from her current home in New York, too. In contrast to the buzz around celebrity chefs and viral trends, the mag is inspired by home cooks, people's culinary roots and the quiet "in-between moments" around food (like trying to master Korean squash porridge or searching for ingredients at the shops with your migrant mother). A similar spirit also drives her podcast, .
Some of the ingredient-packed salads from the anniversary edition of 'Community'. Source: Luisa Brimble
"There is no one way to tell a story," McKinnon explains and she is the perfect judge for our competition, which seeks new talent with an enthusiasm for writing, podcasting, or visually depicting food. The multitasking star is familiar with all these fields and certainly knows her stuff.
She's joined by other equally brilliant talents from the world of media, who'll be picking the competition winners as well.
Rae Johnston
"No matter where I've been in life, food has been an anchor," says multi-award-winning journalist . You might know her as 's first science and technology editor or as the producer and host of top-rated podcasts such as , and , but her achievements don't end there – the proud Wiradjuri woman has also flexed her home-cooking skills on , where she's shared recipes for her and her aunty's .
"Cooking is an outlet for creativity, focus, nurturing and joy," she says. "Knowing – no matter what – I can put a delicious meal on the table at the end of the day is an incredibly comforting feeling. Plus, it's fun!
Over on TikTok, you'll find her (native sarsaparilla) to turn into a bush tea or impressively combining all her interests by with leftover bananas and passionfruit as part of an appliance road test for her Queens of the Drone Age podcast.
"As a technology journalist, I've seen the way food has impacted online creative spaces enormously – when we think of the early days of Instagram becoming popularised, it was all about sharing beautiful food! Now, there are a plethora of digital media celebrating the creativity of food, and it's teaching us so much about each other as people," she says.
As one of our judges, she has a simple piece of advice for people entering the competition.
"Share from your heart," she says. "It doesn't matter if your food journey is fancy or simple – what matters is that it has impacted you, and we want to hear about it."
Evi O.
If you've browsed through Danielle Alvarez's Always Add Lemon, Ross Dobson's Australia, Rosa Cienfuegos' or Jerry Mai's Street Food Vietnam, then you've come across 's award-winning book design.
Her striking graphic style isn't limited to the work she does with the team of eight at her Marrickville studio (office whippet included), she's also a visual artist, too. She's exhibited in Melbourne and Sydney and her artwork has been bought by the City of Sydney Civic Collections and the Westin Miyako in Kyoto, Japan.
Share from your heart. It doesn't matter if your food journey is fancy or simple – what matters is that it has impacted you, and we want to hear about it.
She brings over 15 years of visual expertise to the judging panel and a commitment to celebrating new talent as well.
"I know there are a lot of interesting, diverse food voices happening everywhere outside the beloved mainstream, and a lot of interest from the mainstream [in featuring them] – if the hunt is made easy," she says. "This competition will be that delicious bridge that connects the two."
Kate Montague
There's a high likelihood that has worked on your favourite podcasts. She's currently the managing director and co-founder of , she's part of the advisory committee for the Google Podcasts Creator Program and she's staged podcast workshops for major institutions like the Sydney Opera House, Spotify and Screen Queensland. Her CV includes producer and executive producer credits for NPR’s Snap Judgement, ABC’s Earshot, CBC’s Love Me and Audible, Red Bull and the Venice Biennale of Architecture have featured her audio projects, too.
Her festival program for has championed diverse voices, such as from , who can be credited for one of the most in the event's history. "You're a risk when you're a minority in this industry, you're a risk when you're telling a different story. And that shouldn't be right for audio, because audio is so accessible to people," said Richardson. Instead, she encouraged people to rebrand these so-called risks as 'chances'. "By taking these risks or chances on people, you are just making the industry more diverse and richer with different experiences," she says, "because we all shouldn't be from the same background."
Growing up in rural NSW, Kate shares her delight over the Women's Weekly cookbooks and 'open to interpretation'' recipes that were a big part of her own food journey. It wasn't until she moved to Sydney that food and cooking were really cemented. "Food stories are the ultimate portal into a person's passions, family, culture and history," Kate shares. "Podcasts like Home Cooking and The Unbearable Lightness of Being Hungry show that some of the best stories start with food."
Farah Celjo
When she's not wearing her coding hat or popping onto our screens alongside Adam Liaw in , SBS Food's Managing Editor, Farah Celjo is crafting columns and recipes for the SBS Food website and social channels. Farah is always on the lookout for new and diverse voices spanning the lengths and breadths of what food has to offer and she will also be supporting this competition's judging panel. "To be able to partner up with Diversity in Food Media Australia and to host this incredible competition is nothing equal measure amazing and so important."
As a first-gen Bosnian-Australian, she grew up watching SBS with her immigrant parents and is so proud that her own food journey has come full circle as strives to change perceptions and share stories all through the incredible vehicle that is food.
"Food is more than fuel. It’s love, family, home, emotion, tradition, education, health, sickness, ethics, our passport and so much more," Farah explains. "There's a storyteller in all of us and you might just not know it yet."
Through our 'Journey through food' competition, we want to take chances on the next generation of food writers, illustrators and podcasters. We hope you'll join us and enter.
Feeling inspired?
Hetty McKinnon's new cookbook pays tribute to her Asian roots
