It turns out that all art competitions are not created equal. Well of course I knew that. Entering a Henry Lawson festival art prize or a competition run by a primary school might be a bit of fun but seriously aren't likely to be smart career moves, for me at least.

Even among the appropriate competitions there are layers of career smartness. It turns out there is juried and non juried. Why I didn't clue into this earlier I don't know, but at least I do know after entering just two comps, not twenty.

Juried? Yes, as in preselected. As in quality control. As in anyone can enter but all entries are peer selected as worthy, a bit like scientific papers but a heck of a lot more subjective.

Not juried? As in anyone can enter and have the work hung. Not a bad thing to give everyone a go but not desirable to enhance a professional career.

Remember the Competition Flagbearer poll? It's where I asked your opinion on the painting that I should enter in the Barossa competition.  "Wine, food and painting go together rather well, even if I am a little biased. The Barossa Fine Art Exhibition is part of The Barossa Vintage Festival 2011. It is a painting competition/prize based in the famous Barossa valley wine region in South Australia. The competition powers-that-be have a stated interest in the 'diversity of contemporary abstracts'. As you know, I have a tendency toward creating abstract paintings and I'm hoping one of my foodie inspired abstracts might be a better-than-crapshoot chance in this competition and catch the eye of the judges from this food and wine region. But which painting?"

With your help, I chose Okonomiyaki as the painting to put forward. A big thankyou for everyone who weighed in with their opinion!

After paying the entry fee, obtaining quotes from my framer for the strikingly modern framing, getting shipping quotes and estimating the travel and accommodation costs of attending the festival, it seemed like an awful lot of money to gamble. Which is when I had a closer look at the professional worth of the festival, realised it is NOT juried, and decided to pass.

Then this happened.

One of Australia's top art prizes was decided by the toss of a coin. Truly.

I'm flabbergasted.

All publicity is good eh? Sure.... there's one competition I won't be likely to enter! So insultingly cavalier with the artists expertise and time and money. They do not deserve entrants.

Let's just say I am now rather choosey about the competitions I enter, if I enter any at all.

Easy. Versatile. Filling. Thrifty.

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Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm acrylic on canvas. If you are already familiar with this dish you will recognise the telltale hoisin and mayo pattern. The rest of the painting is inspired by a Melbourne artist Rosetta Santucci. I love how she uses white overlaid paint. In this case it outlines the pancakes.

By the way, all the food painting artwork is available to own in the Official Art Store.

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The meatless meals recipe

Okonomiyaki. It's a Japanese street food. Some call it a pizza, some call it a pancake. Personally I lean towards the pancake idea, as they are a batter with fillings not toppings and I just can't imagine these with cheese. But the name of this food basically means what you like, grilled. So if you want to add cheese, then go for it! Okonomi means what or as you like, and yaki means grilled or barbequed. I used to eat these a lot as a student. They can be really filling.

1/2 cup plain flour
1 egg
2 teaspoons soy sauce
4 tablespoons mirin (sweet rice wine vinegar) or sherry or stock, but mirin or sherry are best

Vegetable filling 1 (all veges go into the batter):
1 1/2 cups fine shredded cabbage
1/2 carrot cut into fine sticks
and choose one of the following:
    2 sticks celery, chopped fine
    4 shallots cut down the centre and then into 5-10cm pieces
    10cm zucchini cut into fine strips

Vegetable filling 2 (the cabbage goes into the batter while the rest go on top):
2 cups fine shredded cabbage
an extra egg
extras of choice such as tempeh strips

mayonnaise or salad creme
Hoisin sauce or soy sauce
seaweed flakes (optional)

Mix flour, egg, soy sauce and mirin together to make a batter.

Chop all the veges and mix into the batter.  Don't try saving time by throwing everything in a bowl and mixing.  The results are dodgy.  Mix the batter first, then add the veges.  And be sensible and don't add more veges than the batter can hold.  You want a pancake, not separate batter covered vegetable pieces.
Divide into two and cook in a frypan just like a pancake.  Use a lightly oiled pan on medium heat. Do not squash this so it remains light and fluffy.
If you are making option 2, crack the extra egg on top of the first cooked side and drop your extras of choice on top. Flip this again to cook the egg and extras when the underside is done. 

Serve brushed with Hoisin sauce, criss-crossed with mayonnaise and sprinkled with seaweed flakes.

This makes a light meal for 2.

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More vegetarian cookbook goodies

Need help with conversions? Download this handy dandy pdf of cooking conversion charts for every cooking measuring system I could find. It should make your life easier.

Want to check out more vegetarian dinner recipes? They're all in the Table of Contents.

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