New cookbook helps people with disabilities gain independence
Roseanne Morrison wants to be a chef.
She was excited to chop up some ingredients and try out some recipes in a new cookbook developed on P.E.I. that helps people with intellectual disabilities become more independent in the kitchen.
"I love it," Morrison said. "I have good skills because my mom taught me everything — how to not cut your fingers, and make homemade biscuits and all that, make bread."
The cookbook is a collaboration between Canada's Smartest Kitchen at Holland College and Tremploy, a Charlottetown based non-profit that supports people with disabilities.
Morrison and other clients at Tremploy were asked for input with some of the recipes. They happily obliged.
"I don't like spicy stuff," Morrison said. "They said no problem."
How to smash a garlic clove
After some taste tests, the chefs got to work on the cookbook.
The recipes are easy to make and have simple ingredients. They spent days making videos about how to prepare some of the ingredients, which was "neat to see," said Tremploy supervisor Lynn Taylor.
"I think a lot of those things were really, really helpful for people to learn — how to smash a garlic clove, not something you would normally do, but … it was sort of safety and just, boom, down on the table."
Greg McKenna, a research consultant at Holland College, said the cookbook focuses on safety in the kitchen as well as preparing easy, nutritional meals.
"Cooking is a key component to everyone's life, so having that capacity to do your own recipes and cook your own food, just to have the ability to put that kind of stuff together, makes a big difference in how independent they can be."
Pizza, pasta popular
Pizza and pasta were popular dishes with the taste testers, said Krista MacQuarrie of Canada's Smartest Kitchen.
The dishes can be made with simple household tools. There are options to use frozen chopped vegetables for people who are uncomfortable using knives, and cooking rice in a microwave instead of on the stove top.
"I really hope people have fun and try cooking," said MacQuarrie. "Like even if they're intimidated by it, that they kind of take the chance and try something new and, hopefully, learn a new skill."
