All about Hennessy Williams - Drag Queen Cooking

Hi everyone! Welcome to my blog and thanks for clicking the about me page, to learn all about Hennessy Williams.

Hennessy Williams — not to be confused with any existing photographers or comedians — is a genderqueer drag performer, chef, and sustainability advocate based in Oakland, California.

Hennessy Williams posing in traditional Asian clothing as a king — *Hennessy the performer…*

Hennessy Williams in a watermelon print dress, holding muffins — *Hennessy the performer…*

Since trending on TikTok and Instagram for a little bit, and also being a local Bay Area performer, many folks may have heard that I do drag as a king and a queen — but you might not know that I’m also a passionate baker, cook, and writer! I love blogging because it combines many of my favorite hobbies, just like drag does.

While this is primarily a food and recipe blog, this blog is also here to explore many of my passions, like drag, sustainability, and sewing. I’m a bit of a jack-of-all-trades, and like many adult ADHD folks, I pick up hobbies like hot cakes! So be sure to also check out my articles on sustainability, drag and styling wigs, and dealing with some shady wig suppliers.

Combining my love into one series, I also have a special interview series here where I interview other performers that do drag, and cook and bake as well! This is close to my heart and I appreciate you checking out these other talented people.

A few other articles I’d love to dive into one day will be doing taxes as a drag performer, how to make money as a drag performer, and how I make many of my drag performing outfits.

But in the meantime, here’s more about me and what I do, in terms of what you can find on this blog!

More about Hennessy Williams the Performer

Hennessy in a drag cosplay as Lord Ozai — Hennessy the spoopy king

Hennessy on the kitchen floor in lingerie, holding a knife — Hennessy the spoopy king

Here are some drag-related articles I’ve written you can read, also accompanied with YouTube videos.

youtube preview image: How to style a drag queen wig

Most of this blog is focused on the how-to or behind the scenes of what I do. But if you want a REAL taste for who I am in my most active alter-ego, do check out my past performances on YouTube, or follow my TikTok or Instagram. Or, find out when I perform next by checking out my Instagram and see me if you live in the Bay Area.

Make sure to also check out my series on performers that bake & cook. More articles coming soon!

About Hennessy Williams the Cook & Baker

Southern food is delicious! — Southern food for the holidays!

Hennessy holding a cocktail — Southern food for the holidays!

My love for food has started since I was a kid growing up in the San Gabriel Valley of Los Angeles, a suburb known for its delicious and authentic Asian cuisine. Since then, I’ve become pescatarian and developed a passion for eating, cooking, and baking vegetarian food from a variety of cultures. My diet also makes me interested in finding great vegetarian dupes of food I used to eat, and ways to vegan-ify dishes I can’t try.

I’m also a cookbook junkie and love to collect books from other chefs & bloggers! Some of my favorite chefs are Katheryne Taylor, ‘Vegan Richa’ Hingle, and Chetna Makan. I love learning as much as I can about different techniques in cooking, baking, and how to make regional cuisines.

Recently, I also got into coming up with my own unique recipes as well as trying other’s, and blogging about them, so I’ve been sharing my original recipes as well. Since they’re is based off what I make at home, 95% of all the recipes you see here will be vegetarian, vegan, or easy to make vegan-friendly.

Super yummy scallion pancake! — Just how good do these scallion pancakes look? Completely vegan too!

While I do occasionally “cheat” by using recipes with animal byproducts such as chicken bouillon or lard, this is noted explicitly in the recipe. Otherwise, the vast majority of my recipes are vegetarian, and I also include plant based alternatives and vegan options. I also love dairy-free recipes, so you can find many of them here as well!

Here are some of my favorite recipes:

an image from YouTube, Hennessy holding a bowl of mac and cheese

simply delicious West African Vegan and Peanut stew with tofu and chickpeas

Also, I have plenty of video tutorials like this one. Check them out on my YouTube!

For those like myself that are perpetually on the internet, and enjoy watching live, frenzied baking, I do have a monthly online Twitch show called Hennessy’s Great Baking Show, on the Media Meltdown channel. (My own Twitch channel is smaller, so I host one off makeup/baking/gaming stuff there.)

You can catch it typically every last Sunday at 1PM PST. Fear not if you miss an episode, as they all get uploaded eventually as full-length episodes on my YouTube channel.

About Hennessy Williams & Sustainability

I’m still new to the world about sustainability, but it’s something I care about deeply.

Plastic and waste continues to pollute and plague our planet. A close friend of mine is an environmental scientist who shares a lot of these grievances with me. I’ve also done my part in reducing the amount of waste I put out. I grew up in a home that quite messy in our attempts to cut costs and reuse things, but I’ve taken the same principle to recycle, repurpose, and compost as much as I can.

Recently, I made the decision to only buy fair-trade clothing for my regular non-performance wear. (I am trying to transition my way into waste-free drag as well, but it’s much harder!)

Labor ethics are also very important to me. I had a very troubling childhood marked by food insecurity, abuse, and physical pain, which I am still overcoming today. Due to needing to leave an abusive environment, I put myself in similarly abusive jobs It took a toll on my body in the form of back pain, stomachaches, and crippling anxiety. I don’t want anyone to go through what I went through. Fast fashion not only creates waste in our environment, but it can literally result in the deaths of many people involved in its labor. I am a seamstress that knows how expensive cloth is and how much work goes into clothing. I don’t want to participate in anything that forces people to work, or doesn’t provide a living wage for them.

Here are my articles on sustainability.