Alexis Hillyard, '06 BEd, '11 MEd, isn't your average cooking show host. For starters, she drops f-bombs and fart jokes, swapping kitchen pretension for messiness and laughs - not to mention she has one hand.
On her YouTube cooking series Stump Kitchen, Hillyard fearlessly takes on vegan and gluten-free variations of otherwise omnivorous eats, while joyfully shooting down stereotypes and misconceptions about people with disabilities.
Hillyard wasn't much of a cook until she was diagnosed with a gluten intolerance and went vegan. She found it hard to find tasty, healthy food without making it herself. Struggling with depression at the time, she fell in love with cooking as a healing tool. "It ignited something in me," she says.
She initially started Stump Kitchen in 2016 to show that vegan and gluten-free cooking can be "fun and not super gross." Now, as she invites guests with other disabilities to cook with her on the show, Stump Kitchen has become a form of activism, bringing diverse bodies into the mainstream, Hillyard says. "I can see how Stump Kitchen kind of turns disability norms on their head."
With the show now into its second year, we asked Hillyard what living and cooking with one hand has taught her about ability.
1. Confidence starts at home
Hillyard grew up with a deep love for her handless arm, which she affectionately calls her "stump." Her younger sister Ainsley nicknamed the stump Bebe, and Hillyard used to put on puppet shows where Bebe was the good guy and her hand, Biggie, was the bad guy (they recreate the show at the beginning of this video).
Before she started kindergarten, her mom and sister would practice asking her questions about her arm in case she was asked any at school. "Those things really helped me find my own language around my arm and helped me appreciate it," Hillyard says.
2. Humour helps
For the uninitiated, stump humour is a big part of Stump Kitchen (think one-handed juggling). Hillyard has always had a lighthearted relationship with her stump. She'll draw eyes and a mouth on it, using her finger stub as a nose, and she once dressed up as Captain Hook for Halloween.
She's learned that having a sense of humour about the things that make us different opens a door to connect with others. "It kind of disarms people," she says, all puns intended. "When you let people laugh with you, their guard is down and they're more comfortable to ask questions."
3. Don't judge a stump by its cover
Hillyard's stump hardly holds her back in the kitchen. In fact, it's a multipurpose culinary tool: a potato masher, bowl-scooping spatula, mixer, avocado-scooper and juicer. Plus, her stump is great for washing dishes, getting in crevices where most hands wouldn't fit.
As a society, she says, we're quick to make assumptions about what someone can or cannot do based on their appearance. "Even as someone who isn't the typical able-bodied person, I've fallen into that trap," she says. "But what I've learned through doing Stump Kitchen is that's such a narrow way to look at the world."
Hillyard hopes Stump Kitchen prompts those who watch to challenge their beliefs about how people with disabilities live their lives or that they want an able-bodied person's pity or help.
4. My business isn't your business
For people with a visible disability, nosy questions and gawky stares happen every day - from strangers in grocery stores telling them to be proud of themselves, to asking how they "got" their disability in the first place, says Hillyard. Don't be that person.
It's just unnecessary to meddle in somebody's business - and it can be hurtful, too. "If someone's in a wheelchair, you don't need to know why and they might not want to talk about it. It's a really personal thing that people need to be able to tell when they're ready."
5. Learn to do by doing - and do it your own way
Hillyard learned about using her stump in the kitchen through feel and adapting over time to be better and safer. Through Stump Kitchen, she has noticed everybody has their own best way around the kitchen. For example, while she measures vanilla by holding the measuring spoon under her armpit, her friend Callie balances the spoon on the table - and her friend Natalee holds the spoon using her foot.
Hillyard has revelled in learning that there's more than one way to do something - a solid life lesson both in and out of the kitchen. "It's neat to see, honour and celebrate all the different ways we can do something."
Bonus Lessons:
- Nutritional yeast is the best thing in the world.
- Coconut oil is a great stump moisturizer.
- You can never have enough avocados.
- You gotta massage your kale before you eat that shit.
Recipe for vegan, gluten-free French toast:
- Bread (use gluten-free bread if you have a sensitivity)
- 1 cup vegan milk (Hillyard likes coconut milk the best)
- 1/4 cup ground flax
- A "shit-ton" of cinnamon (at least two teaspoons)
- Vegan butter (like Earth Balance)
- A sprinkle of salt (optional: adding a bit of kala namak, Indian black salt, will give your French Toast a yummy egg flavour)
- Maple syrup or anything else you want to top it with
- Mix together vegan milk, ground flax, cinnamon and salt. Let sit for about three to five minutes (this will give the toast an eggy texture).
- Give your bread a little bath in the milk mixture.
- Heat up your pan and add vegan butter.
- Fry until golden brown or a tiny bit burnt.
- Pile on your toppings and enjoy!
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