How people learn to cook without reading

Some people with learning disabilities – and those supporting them – are calling for more accessible ways to learn to cook. Teachers, charities and chefs have come together to develop easy-to-read recipes using symbols.

“Recipe books aren’t accessible and I find the instructions very complicated”, says Harry Roche, a MENCAP ambassador who has a learning disability. Conventional recipes often contain “abstract concepts and require judgement and problem-solving skills”, which people with learning disabilities can struggle with, says occupational therapist Kerry Delaney, who consulted for the Cook and Eat symbol-supported recipe books produced by the South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.

Symbol-supported recipes (using images and graphics instead of words) are being created by those dedicated to the cause, including charities and teachers. Many of them lay out steps traditional recipes might omit, such as washing your hands or turning the gas on. “People with a learning disability can cook”, Delaney says, “they just need the information given to them in a different way”.

Symbol-supported ingredients lists are sometimes accompanied by step-by-step cooking videos. UK charity United Response has launched a cookABILITY series of videos, “made by and for those with learning disabilites”. A dozen recipes are on offer, including spaghetti Bolognese, chilli con carne and fish pie. A downloadable ingredients list, which uses photographs of the foods, is available for each meal.

Teacher Asa Hancock, from Ganton School in Hull, wants to bring more incentive to the cooking experience. He says his students “want to see real chefs” and deserve well-designed resources. He contacted chef Tom Kerridge, who donated a number of recipes, and symbol designers Widgit, who designed them to be used as symbol-supported recipes. “It would be fantastic to get more celebrity chefs on board”, says Hancock, as the excitement increases motivation and focus, ultimately improving the learning experience.

Recipes that Tom Kerridge donated for use include chicken tagine traybake, peri-peri chicken and spicy Mexican-style bean burger. You can get the symbol-supported recipes on the Ganton School Hull website.

This year’s Learning Disability Week theme is creativity. Cooking can be a vehicle for self-expression, and can support literacy and numeracy learning, as these skills are naturally embedded in recipes through measuring and weighing, for example. It’s important for people with a learning disability to have the opportunity to improve their skills, as this may open doors to employment, says Roche.

Being able to follow a recipe also “increases independence”, adds Roche, who cooks food at home but “would like to have the freedom to enjoy different, more exciting recipes”. He often cooks the same meals, as he says it’s easy, but he’d like to learn to make bread and cakes and to cook with seafood.

The symbol recipes can be used in a group setting, such as at a cooking course designed for people with learning disabilities, according to Hancock, or for learning in your own kitchen.

“Obesity is a ticking time bomb which will hit people with learning disabilities particularly hard if we fail to make a decisive intervention and don’t give people control over what they eat”, says Alan Tilley, Area Manager of ROC Wellbeing, a subsidiary of UK disability charity United Response.

People with a disability are more likely to have a poor diet and not exercise enough, according to research. Cooking a meal from scratch at home can often seem daunting, says Roche, leading many to eat convenience products and not try new foods. With recipes and cookery videos designed for people with a learning disability, healthier meals could be on the menu.