Cook books for people with learning disabilities launched at special event

Local people with learning disabilities, their families and those who work with people with learning disabilities are invited to the launch of an innovative series of cook books – specifically designed for people with a learning disability.

The Cook and Eat cook books will be launched at a special event on Wednesday 23rd October at Pennine Camphill Community in Wakefield, from 10.30am – 1.30pm.

The cook books have been created with help from people with learning disabilities by South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. There are four books in the series which include recipes to make lunchtime and evening meals as well as baking.

During the event, people will be able to watch recipes being made from the books, have a go at cooking a recipe and find out more about why the cook books were created. A light buffet will be provided and a disco, hosted by Dr Bipin Upadhyay, will be held from 12.30 for everyone to join in with.

Kerry Delaney, occupational therapist at the Trust, who created the books said, “The idea for creating the cook books came from my work with people with learning disabilities. People wanted to cook healthy foods, but didn’t know how to, and were not able to follow recipes from existing cook books.

“For example, recipes in a traditional cook book often use abbreviations or include instructions that require the person to make a judgment call. The recipes may also require you to multi-task rather than follow one step at a time. We identified these difficulties and worked with people to ensure that the recipes in the Cook and Eat books can be used by everyone.”

People who have made recipes from the Cook and Eat books said they are “easy peasy” and “easy, you can just get on with it”.

The Cook and Eat books available to purchase, priced at £10 each.