Cooking/eating limitations

[ingridsf]

Everybody's got something that limits their daily cooking and eating -- money, space, time, allergies, etc. My primary limitations are around mobility and manual strength. Yet, even though I might have assumed my cooking skills and eating would erode as the limitations increase, this hasn't been the case. I think more and more about how MFK Fisher described her first kitchen in France as lacking in what were to her basic amenities, but how she believed she prepared some of her finest meals there.

Because wielding a knife and other ordinary home-cooking tasks are becoming near to impossible, I tend to cook dishes that have as few ingredients as possible, buy ingredients whose quality makes up for my lack of ability to monkey with them, and bash with a mortar and pestle instead of chop, etc.

These are my individual adaptations to a very particular situation. I'm curious about how other peoples' cooking has been improved by working within a form. Does anyone take pleasure in what they might have once considered an unfortunate restriction?

[Pickles]

I have a very severe allergy to all forms of shellfish and mollusks. Cropped up unexpectedly after an evening of grilled shrimp. Several hours later...ER and massive amounts of benadryl and epi-whoziwhatzis. Testing later confirmed I was allergic to all the other stuff--lobster showing the strongest reaction. Who knew? I was quite a surprise I can tell yah! I am a personal chef and I can handle it and cook it for my clients without problems. I take care not to breathe the steam from the pots, and taste my sauces prior to adding the seafood. Any further seasonings involve willing testers. It all works out great. Personally, I don't miss it. Shrimp I used to like, but didn't eat often, and I miss Mom's linguini with clam sauce. All the rest I can live without. I have to.

[Mabelline]

I wish I had any good tips for getting past an obstacle for food prep, but other than a bowl in your lap, and good paring knife, I'm a blank. Do you have problems with pans on your stove? I imagine cast iron is too heavy. It is getting that way for me. What about a processor? Or is that too much of a bear to clean?

[Cusina]

Good question. I'm a believer that we are defined by our limitations so...

I live in the suburban Midwest. I can't buy some things, particularily luxury or seasonal ingredients, that might be available to others. So geographically I'm limited.

Time is my second constraint, followed closely by concentration. Young children underfoot puts a cramp in my style. There are likely to be demands for juice and crackers at critical moments. I also sometimes lack imagination, knowledge, and experience but that is almost a challenge rather than a limitation.

There is a flip side to each of these constraints. They inspire me too, make me resourceful. Seeking out the things in my part of the world that ARE fresh and unique to the area is fun. Beautiful honey, cheese, milk, beef and syrup. Enjoying even more the tomatoes and corn when they are in season because they are a rarity. Realizing that my corner butcher shop with it's dozens of home made sausages is a seriously great thing, I shouldn't take it for granted. And it is a joy to teach a child to cook, even dryish toast is marvelous if you four year old made it for you, special.

My lack of imagination leads me to talk with others, like this BB. Definitely enriches my life too.

Edited March 22, 2004 by Cusina (log)

[Mabelline]

Cusina, not to get too far off topic, but having raised three feminine sprouts, 2 years apart, do you feel as though there is a natural law that all the sprouts do not behave at the same time?

[ingridsf]

I would 100% agree that my appreciation of the things that remain is heightened -- just as you, cusina, feel about corn and tomatoes. (I share your love of them seasonally.) I think one thing that spurred me to open this discussion is that so many plans for shared meals seem to be based on exclusion, i.e., no meat, no potatoes, no dairy, tuna's got mercury, and so on, that my attitude about cooking is becoming frighteningly like a frustrated parent's: "You'll eat it because I cooked it!"

There's that article about this topic already but I wanted to try to look at all of this in a more positive light.

Mabelline, actually what I wondered was what other folks are doing. Do you have any adapting of your own that's improved your cooking or just improved your palate?

[Cusina]

Cusina, not to get too far off topic, but having raised three feminine sprouts, 2 years apart, do you feel as though there is a natural law that all the sprouts do not behave at the same time?

YES! exactly!

My two children alternate... they are never hungry at the same time for the same things. First one is hungry, then 3 minutes later the other, then the first is thirsty, then the other one is thirsty, then the first one is hungry AGAIN for something different (and more labor intensive) etc... ad nauseum (literally sometimes). Of course neither is hungry or thirsty at meal time, at least for what I've cooked. For the record, lots of these requests go unfilled. They do get told to wait for supper when they have had enough snacks.

I swear some days they must sit down between themselves and work the exact timing out to achieve the maximum mommy frustration point.

O.k. vent over... back to the topic.

[lovebenton0]

We would like to give you all an advance notice, for our upcoming "Cooking as and for Persons with Disabilities" course on eGCI. The course is slated to present on April 23rd. We would love to have you all come to participate.

[marie-louise]

Mine is time. I just don't have the energy to cook anything time-consuming on work nights. So I don't; I just save those recipes for days off.

[CompassRose]

I'm on a cutting diet right now... and carb cycling. No added salt. No sugar. Fibrous carbs, lean protein, lots of the latter.

However, I made a promise to myself, a few years back, that I would never eat anything merely because I "had to eat" (six times a day, no less) and I'd never choke down anything that didn't taste at least moderately pleasing.

Well, I am amazing myself with the kind of creativity I can dredge out to liven up those skinless, boneless chickie breasts and egg whites! So much so that my co-workers actually envy me my Spartan food, and lean over my desk at Feeding Time to ask what I'm eating "that smells so good."

I can't help but feel a modest sense of accomplishment in that.

[ingridsf]

We would like to give you all an advance notice, for our upcoming "Cooking as and for Persons with Disabilities" course on eGCI. The course is slated to present on April 23rd. We would love to have you all come to participate.

I don't know about the rest of y'all, but I let out a most Homer-like "Woo-hoo!" when I read this. But now I'm curious as to details. Can you give a fuller description of it? Sad to say, I've never heard of such a course being offered so have no context. For me, cooking classes look like fun but not my kind, so to speak.

[lala]

Allergies, massive allergies. So bad, that just a short time after graduating from the CIA I was told by an allergist 'leave the kitchen now. do not go back'. wwwaaahhhh!!! I hadn't known about this prior to entering the CIA, I was only 20 at the time...

Cutting tomatoes, seafood, citrus fruits, chopping chocolate? That gets me a rash up to my elbows. Roasting peppers? I've got about 30 seconds to leave the kitchen before my throat closes up completely. Eating? Well, the Nightshade family (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant) can make my mouth tingle, and tongue swell. Raw garlic...oy...blisters ... Eating dungeness crab (one of my favorites)...I have to coat my hands in hydrocortisone before the rash starts. But Yeast is the worst...massively bad. I can only have 1 piece of bread per day (I flee from sourdough), and wine must be judged against all other yeast and sugar containing foods (bread, any sweets, soy sauce, vinegar, juices, sodas) Cheese...oh,my. Must limit, seriously... My co-workers always tell me I make such "wonderful" lunches... well, heck I have to cook. I'd love to just slap together a sandwich, but I just cant!

I've been told by many doctors what I can eat (not much), but I refuse to give up good food, so I just question everything I touch/eat, and try to get the balance right. When I don't, I really suffer, but when I do, I'm able to eat the foods I like, in moderation. And no, I'm not one of those annoying "I can't eat that, can you change this dish, Oh, I'm so allergic to that" people in restaurants. Part of the avoidance is in selecting restaurants whose cuisine limits my problem foods. But if I know I'm going somewhere 'bad', I just adjust my diet for the day, to accomodate the limited amounts of those foods that I can have...then I enjoy!

I'm not complaining...everyone has something that they deal with, and for me it's become so automatic, I hardly notice it unless I miscalculate. I still manage to enjoy my food!

[purplewiz]

About 6 months ago, I went on a reduced carb eating plan (as opposed to "low carb", like Atkins) on my doctor's advice, to manage a condition I didn't know I had. Believe me, I didn't WANT to do this, but the other alternatives didn't look particularly wonderful.

This has turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I realized that I'd become pretty darned lazy in my cooking, and being given this limitation turned out to be a spark to creativity. I've researched and made new recipes, sauces, side dishes (lots and LOTS of vegetables!), simply because I couldn't make my usual pasta and a sauce anymore.

And it wasn't all bad: I found that a lot of my favorite dishes were either in plan, or could be made so with very little tweaking.

When I finally told people about this state of affairs, most of them were terribly sorry, offering me gobs of sympathy about how limited my foods must be, and how awful it must be that I couldn't be a foodie anymore. I had to tell them thanks for the sympathy, but it's really not needed - we're eating better on all levels now than we have in years! (And eGullet is helping )

Oh, yeah, the eating plan is working medically speaking, too.

Marcia.

[sml311]

Unfortunately all of the above challenge me at various times.

Physically, as I said in my bio, I was in a car accident that continues to affect my physical well-being seven years later--weakness in my dominant arm and reduced standing power. On chopping-intensive dishes, for example my mom's cabbage casserole, my left (or action) arm gets weak with shooting pain. It's better than it used to be and I have energy to prep more, but I do end up buying some pre-cut items when I'd like to do it myself. I'm looking into getting a mandolin, but this presents me with my next challenge:

Money, I've recently left my job and moved, so money's tight. I'm going back to work next week but until then, I'm in bargain basement. So whatever meat, vegetable, fruit, etc is on sale, that's what I'm going to be figuring out how to use! My butcher and produce guy have been wonderful with advice in this area.

Time, not so much of a problem now, but at my previous job, I worked 11 or so hours a day. Then went to the gym or my art class. Cooking, more than just light grilling or warming, wasn't happening. Plus I had THE WORLD'S SHITTIEST STOVE. Seriously, it had one heat--high--so I had to vary the tempature by changing the distance from the flame which wasn't easy on my arm. I nearly ruined my best sautee pan. This greatly reduced the dishes I could prepare. I never made more turkey wraps in my life!!

Allergies, milk (uncooked), corn, peanuts, wine (uncooked), MSG, cherry flavoring. I can have milk if it's fully cooked (like cheese on a pizza) so it's really developed my palate to tell if the milk is indeed not fully cooked. I can even smell the difference between cooked and noncooked milk in a dish. I wish I could have Thai food, but there's just too much peanut lurking around.

Interresting to see people's responses.

SML

[lovebenton0]

We would like to give you all an advance notice, for our upcoming "Cooking as and for Persons with  Disabilities" course on eGCI. The course is slated to present on April 23rd. We would love to have you all come to participate. 

I don't know about the rest of y'all, but I let out a most Homer-like "Woo-hoo!" when I read this. But now I'm curious as to details. Can you give a fuller description of it? Sad to say, I've never heard of such a course being offered so have no context. For me, cooking classes look like fun but not my kind, so to speak.

OK. Just for you.

The objective of this course is to present suggestions and solutions to challenges encountered when cooking as a person with disabilities, and cooking for persons with disabilities. Lessons will involve the issues of safety, methods, and equipment. Recipe links will accompany the lessons, as well as links to sites we have found helpful for understanding focus disabilities. We will make use of photographs for illustration; links to products available; and home solutions, that help ease the challenges concerned.

Disabilities we will be targeting will include hearing impairment/deafness; mental retardation focus, which will cover in its scope other mental and physical disabilities, ie., care for persons in wheelchairs, Alzheimer's patients, people with mastication problems, grip and coordination problems; vestibular disorders, ie., balance and coordination problems, and vision impairments. We will also target some solutions and suggestions for dealing with problems encountered such as nausea; touch on some dietary restrictions such as suggestions for low sodium; low fat/cholesterol; adding good fat and nutritional elements for difficult appetites and abilities to eat, ie., color and texture issues, and problems with eating while on medication.

We are looking forward to a Q&A on this course, to encourage open discussion and questions from the forum.

I'll post a reminder announcement on this thread, shortly prior to the April 21st announcement on eGCI, for the course presentation on April 23.

[JennotJenn]

We would like to give you all an advance notice, for our upcoming "Cooking as and for Persons with  Disabilities" course on eGCI. The course is slated to present on April 23rd. We would love to have you all come to participate. 

I don't know about the rest of y'all, but I let out a most Homer-like "Woo-hoo!" when I read this. But now I'm curious as to details. Can you give a fuller description of it? Sad to say, I've never heard of such a course being offered so have no context. For me, cooking classes look like fun but not my kind, so to speak.

OK. Just for you.

The objective of this course is to present suggestions and solutions to challenges encountered when cooking as a person with disabilities, and cooking for persons with disabilities. Lessons will involve the issues of safety, methods, and equipment. Recipe links will accompany the lessons, as well as links to sites we have found helpful for understanding focus disabilities. We will make use of photographs for illustration; links to products available; and home solutions, that help ease the challenges concerned.

Disabilities we will be targeting will include hearing impairment/deafness; mental retardation focus, which will cover in its scope other mental and physical disabilities, ie., care for persons in wheelchairs, Alzheimer's patients, people with mastication problems, grip and coordination problems; vestibular disorders, ie., balance and coordination problems, and vision impairments. We will also target some solutions and suggestions for dealing with problems encountered such as nausea; touch on some dietary restrictions such as suggestions for low sodium; low fat/cholesterol; adding good fat and nutritional elements for difficult appetites and abilities to eat, ie., color and texture issues, and problems with eating while on medication.

We are looking forward to a Q&A on this course, to encourage open discussion and questions from the forum.

I'll post a reminder announcement on this thread, shortly prior to the April 21st announcement on eGCI, for the course presentation on April 23.

Wonderful! My mom has MS (progressing at a moderate pace) and is starting to have problems lifting pots and pans. She also cannot stand for long without experiencing severe pain, then numbness in her hips and legs. As such, she's pretty much stopped cooking altogether and she and my dad eat almost all of their meals out...a healthy diet is very important in maintaing health w/MS, and mom is not getting that w/fast food and restaurant meals. I'd love to see these tips! Can't wait for this class to start.

As for me, I have some oral allergies that make eating certain foods unpleasant. Raw walnuts and pecans make my mouth burn a little. Raw pineapple makes the insides of my mouth burn and flake (I can eat tinned pineapple, though) and green papaya makes the back of my throat burn and itch so badly that I've given up ever eating it again. Raw peas and corn make my mouth and throat itch a little. The reaction to all of these varies with the severity of my other (mostly seasonal allergies). I can't touch these foods in Spring, but can eat them with only a mild reaction in Summer. Thank God none of these are life threatening, though.

And non-allergy things: I have the world's shittiest fridge/freezer. It thaws stuff in the freezer and freezes stuff in the fridge. As a point of reference, never buy a Hotpoint fridge (not our fault, it belongs to the apt). Makes holding lettuces a pain in the rear.

[Bicycle Lee]

geography, allergies and monetary problems aside....those who consciously limit their list of possible food choices seem to me to be a new breed of S&Mer....I know a woman who was a vegan and then decided to also cut out gluten...It just seemed like she loved the pain, ya know? That shit is just plumb crazy to me. In the post-Bush-apocalyptic-war zone, what are they going to eat? Are they going to rebuild the soy burger factory out of the rubble? I love food way too much to be my own food gestapo...

[Marlene]

We would like to give you all an advance notice, for our upcoming "Cooking as and for Persons with  Disabilities" course on eGCI. The course is slated to present on April 23rd. We would love to have you all come to participate. 

I don't know about the rest of y'all, but I let out a most Homer-like "Woo-hoo!" when I read this. But now I'm curious as to details. Can you give a fuller description of it? Sad to say, I've never heard of such a course being offered so have no context. For me, cooking classes look like fun but not my kind, so to speak.

OK. Just for you.

The objective of this course is to present suggestions and solutions to challenges encountered when cooking as a person with disabilities, and cooking for persons with disabilities. Lessons will involve the issues of safety, methods, and equipment. Recipe links will accompany the lessons, as well as links to sites we have found helpful for understanding focus disabilities. We will make use of photographs for illustration; links to products available; and home solutions, that help ease the challenges concerned.

Disabilities we will be targeting will include hearing impairment/deafness; mental retardation focus, which will cover in its scope other mental and physical disabilities, ie., care for persons in wheelchairs, Alzheimer's patients, people with mastication problems, grip and coordination problems; vestibular disorders, ie., balance and coordination problems, and vision impairments. We will also target some solutions and suggestions for dealing with problems encountered such as nausea; touch on some dietary restrictions such as suggestions for low sodium; low fat/cholesterol; adding good fat and nutritional elements for difficult appetites and abilities to eat, ie., color and texture issues, and problems with eating while on medication.

We are looking forward to a Q&A on this course, to encourage open discussion and questions from the forum.

I'll post a reminder announcement on this thread, shortly prior to the April 21st announcement on eGCI, for the course presentation on April 23.

I have been monitoring the progress of the three instructors of this course as it has been coming together, and I personally believe anyone with a disability or who cares for someone with a disability will get a lot out of this

[hillvalley]

We would like to give you all an advance notice, for our upcoming "Cooking as and for Persons with  Disabilities" course on eGCI. The course is slated to present on April 23rd. We would love to have you all come to participate. 

I don't know about the rest of y'all, but I let out a most Homer-like "Woo-hoo!" when I read this. But now I'm curious as to details. Can you give a fuller description of it? Sad to say, I've never heard of such a course being offered so have no context. For me, cooking classes look like fun but not my kind, so to speak.

OK. Just for you.

The objective of this course is to present suggestions and solutions to challenges encountered when cooking as a person with disabilities, and cooking for persons with disabilities. Lessons will involve the issues of safety, methods, and equipment. Recipe links will accompany the lessons, as well as links to sites we have found helpful for understanding focus disabilities. We will make use of photographs for illustration; links to products available; and home solutions, that help ease the challenges concerned.

Disabilities we will be targeting will include hearing impairment/deafness; mental retardation focus, which will cover in its scope other mental and physical disabilities, ie., care for persons in wheelchairs, Alzheimer's patients, people with mastication problems, grip and coordination problems; vestibular disorders, ie., balance and coordination problems, and vision impairments. We will also target some solutions and suggestions for dealing with problems encountered such as nausea; touch on some dietary restrictions such as suggestions for low sodium; low fat/cholesterol; adding good fat and nutritional elements for difficult appetites and abilities to eat, ie., color and texture issues, and problems with eating while on medication.

We are looking forward to a Q&A on this course, to encourage open discussion and questions from the forum.

I'll post a reminder announcement on this thread, shortly prior to the April 21st announcement on eGCI, for the course presentation on April 23.

I have been monitoring the progress of the three instructors of this course as it has been coming together, and I personally believe anyone with a disability or who cares for someone with a disability will get a lot out of this

Thank you for the kind words Marlene! Now that the course is coming together we are all very excited.

Just to add to what lovebenton0 posted, we will offer three different persepectives on cooking with/for a disability: cooking as, cooking for, and teaching cooking to the disabled. As with other EGCI courses there will be a Q&A, so get those questions ready!

[lala]

That course sounds fantastic!!! Good food and nutrition should be available for all, and it can be such a challange for some folks. Kudos for your efforts! ( It actually sounds like it'd make a great book - not everyone with those issues, or those who care for those folks, have internet access!)

[ingridsf]

This course gets me so excited because, for once, I think the focus will be on pleasure and accomplishment, rather than a bunch of able-bodied people having a dry-as-dust-discussion about optimum calorie intake versus service provider hours.

Frankly, any cooking course that begins with the idea that I can cook for myself is a damn milestone. If it goes well, we should have a similiar one for cocktails!

PS Nothing against good nutrition or anything but, c'mon, wouldn't you pick hedonism over "a sensible diet" any day? This link kind of says what needs to be said: http://www.freedomclearinghouse.org/network/buttertarts.htm

PPS Additional topic: "The All-You-Can-Eat-Buffet: Ethical Boundaries, Physical Disabilities, and Asking Your Friends to Get You a Third Plate of Shrimp."

Edited March 22, 2004 by ingridsf (log)

[mamster]

This pales next to any sort of actual allergy or disability, but my new restriction is that baby goes to sleep at 6:30, and her room is right next to the kitchen. So any dinner needs to be cooked between 4:00 and 6:00 but not eaten before 7:00. So far this has meant, that I can remember, a couple of kinds of beef stew and a nice risotto with bacon and radicchio.

This may last a while, so I'll have to either get more creative or more quiet.

[prasantrin]

I have IBS and I'm lactose intolerant (mildly). When I was younger there were days when I would drink 2L of milk but now I rarely, if ever, touch the stuff. I once drank just 250mL milk in about 30 minutes and I ended up with a surprise poop (for definitions, see What to do when you have to poop at work near the bottom of the page)! I can eat little bits of ice cream and cheese but too much and I'm running for the toilet! As for the IBS, greasy and fried foods do horrible things to my stomach, too, but my motto is "Anything fried is good" so I suffer with the pains . Coffee is bad for my tummy, too, but I never cared that much for it so it's not too much of a hardship for me.

[lovebenton0]

I have IBS and I'm lactose intolerant (mildly).  When I was younger there were days when I would drink 2L of milk but now I rarely, if ever, touch the stuff.  I once drank just 250mL milk in about 30 minutes and I ended up with a surprise poop (for definitions, see What to do when you have to poop at work near the bottom of the page)!  I can eat little bits of ice cream and cheese but too much and I'm running for the toilet!  As for the IBS, greasy and fried foods do horrible things to my stomach, too, but my motto is "Anything fried is good" so I suffer with the pains  .  Coffee is bad for my tummy, too, but I never cared that much for it so it's not too much of a hardship for me.

There are many very good soy protein foods out there. I actually much prefer the soy cheeses to the fat free "real" thing. The taste is better, and they melt nicely in recipes. Unlike the fat free cheeses, you can use them on top when baking or for a quick broil to melt, as with toast and sandwiches. And the soy milk now is much better than it used to be. I particularly like the vanilla milk for just drinking. If you can tolerate a bit of dairy, the fatfree sourcream and some brands of fat free cream cheese are also very good. The soy foods and fat free foods have improved so much over the past few years that if you have not tried them lately I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

As far as fried foods go, I will be including some "oven fried" recipes in the recipe source thread for the Cooking as/for Diasabilities course. Some basics there to get you started. Potatoes, fish, chicken recipes that you can use and then tweak to your own tastes.

This pales next to any sort of actual allergy or disability, but my new restriction is that baby goes to sleep at 6:30, and her room is right next to the kitchen. So any dinner needs to be cooked between 4:00 and 6:00 but not eaten before 7:00. So far this has meant, that I can remember, a couple of kinds of beef stew and a nice risotto with bacon and radicchio.

This may last a while, so I'll have to either get more creative or more quiet.

Hi. I have had similar "cooking limitations" for various reasons. So, a couple of quickie ideas for you. Sauces and pasta make great fix ahead combos: you can even cook them the evening before to have ready for the next night, when all it takes is reheating the sauce and doing a quick pasta cook, or reheat the pasta with hot water or by adding then to your sauce. Also, slow cooking is a wonderful method, as you can do all the set up much earlier in your day, or prep it all the night before and toss into the crock to cook at its own leisure--and yours. If you don't have one, they are a worthwhile investment, and can even be found quite reasonably priced.

I used to set up soups and stews, even whole or halved chickens to cook for the next day. Set it on low in the morning or about noon time, let cook and serve it when you are ready. If you like roasts (beef or lamb), or roasted chicken with vegetables, they are great in the oven, one dish to clean up and heavenly to smell while cooking. Mexican food, or even good old macaroni and cheese, you can put together when time permits then pop it in the oven so it is ready when you are set to serve. There will be at least a couple of recipes linked that might get you started. And Recipe Gullet is a great source for ideas when you get the chance, as well as the slow cooker threads. You can add more variety to your meals, and enjoy it more while baby sleeps.

[Marlene]

This pales next to any sort of actual allergy or disability, but my new restriction is that baby goes to sleep at 6:30, and her room is right next to the kitchen. So any dinner needs to be cooked between 4:00 and 6:00 but not eaten before 7:00. So far this has meant, that I can remember, a couple of kinds of beef stew and a nice risotto with bacon and radicchio.

This may last a while, so I'll have to either get more creative or more quiet.

I can sympathize. I remember when Ryan was a baby and when he slept (which wasn't very often), I'd creep about the house carefully, in fear that I'd wake him up. (once he was awake he was good for another 10 hour stretch of crying usually)

My friend on the other hand made all kinds of noise while her baby slept. Vacumned, clashed pots and pans etc.

The theory being, if your baby gets used to the noise while she's awake, it won't wake her up when she's sleeping. So get out those pots and pans and cook while she's awake. Better yet, set her carrier on the counter or floor while you're cooking. You can engage her in cooking right away!

As for eating together, I don't think my ex and I ate together once during the first 8 months. One of us was walking the floor with Ry while the other one ate. We did however, drink a lot of wine those first few months