Come at me Like a Spidermonkey!

By Stephanie Pierce

Hi. I’m not here to be inspiring. I’m here to follow my wildest dreams. It took a long time to get here; I’ve spent many years wondering what it was that I was going to do with my life. Educated in fine establishments from elementary to graduate school, I was supposed to work a 9 to 5, have 2.5 kids, and live in the suburbs with a comfortable salary and a financial portfolio. 

Well. The universe loves to mess with dreamers. After completing my undergraduate studies in San Francisco, I did a 3 month rampage through Europe, like many American youngsters. The difference is, I didn’t come home, instead I chose a home in London, where I fell into my dream job. I got to teach adults with learning disabilities to cook, and get paid for it too! Except for a minor breakdown thanks to my budding bipolar disorder, this was my favorite professional accomplishment, until now. 

After London, I met the love of my life in the first week of a lengthy stint in Israel where I used my professional cooking experience to open a home bakery and my lack of Hebrew to dream of a time where I would be able to change the world again. In the meantime, I wrote a cookbook designed to be used by people with developmental disorders: a large font, simple language, step-by-step photographs, and a silly name: Picky Tongue: Idiotproof. 

And so the idea for the Picky Tongue Cooking school emerged. I yearn for the days of cooking with people with autism and Down’s Syndrome and want to make that my reality. The Picky Tongue Cooking school will be designed to teach people with learning disabilities to cook in a picturesque environment. The class sizes will be small and taught by the select professional chefs who still have a heart.  

Food is something that holds a strange place in the lives of many people with developmental disorders such as autism. First of all, many people on the autism spectrum experience food aversions that are rarely faced and more often than not given into. Also, it is quite frequent that people with developmental disorders are not necessarily involved in their food decisions, instead being told to eat what is being prepared. Now when it comes to actually cooking, many people with moderate to severe developmental disorders rarely go beyond making a sandwich. There is a fear perpetrated by parents and carers that they will get injured by culinary equipment. But guess what? Everyone gets injured in the kitchen. The thing is, during my 3 years of teaching in London, I could count the number of injuries on one hand. All it takes to get people with developmental disorders in the kitchen is a good helping of health and safety training and a massive boost in confidence. They will never cease to surprise you.

Still, this project is all fine and well, but it has not been an easy journey. My bipolar disorder, though quite well managed thanks to our thriving pharmaceutical industry, is coupled with dyspraxia. This developmental disorder is the most annoying disability there is. Hidden, it affects all sorts of things from my speech, sense of direction, proprioception, fine motor skills, and ability to regulate my emotions. Now, to quote the late Stella Young, I am not your inspiration. I complain about my condition at least once a week, refuse to drive, am glued to Google Maps, and have failed miserably at speech therapy. But I still get up in the morning, fueled by way too much coffee and the will to beat the odds. My emotions get in the way of my seeing things through, but I’ve never failed at anything so much as have built the life skills that will allow me to open the Picky Tongue Cooking school. 

As of right now, things are still in early days. But I know full well that this school can do nothing but succeed. I anticipate a plethora of obstacles to come at me like a spidermonkey. But armed with weapons like good old fashioned resilience, a diverse skill set, and a fabulous attitude, I can be your inspiration. pickytonguecooking