This post is a result of a COVID situation ‘make-it-yourself’ and enjoy by staying-mentally-healthy status. We provide expert tips and strategies to help you navigate food sensitivities, sensory issues, and dietary restrictions.

My job [as a journalist] relies on asking questions, which is not just in the context of an interview. Our cookbook is not just a collection of recipes; it's a transformative guide to a happier, healthier, and more harmonious dining experience. The recipes also offer adaptations for people who are sensory seekers, sensory avoiders or who want to broaden their cooking horizons in the kitchen.

I had always found this activity immensely difficult, but no one had ever suggested that being autistic may have had any kind of connection. I LOVE the concept because I really struggle with having the energy to cook but the recipes seemed to be mostly high energy level recipes (one recipe is 12 hours long!

My sister asked me recently what this was like – to have spent lockdown writing, to hold something tangible in your hands. At other points cookbooks would just be inaccessible, given the language used, or even just because the duration they’d take was not a true reflection from start to finish. You do not see the hours of preparation, planning, scripting to just be able to sit at the table with ordinary folk, let alone to even be a part of proceedings. Chop up into rough small chunks and put it all in the mixing bowl; measure out the flour and also add to the mixing bowl.It was important to me to put autistic and disabled voices front and centre; there is a tiny number of non-disabled people who have made this book happen, probably less than ten. We are looking for new solutions to old problems, but also to those from the ‘new reality’ that appear like mushrooms overnight and mutate like a virus. A kitchen is not exactly accessible to autistic individuals; there is a host of sensory issues to contend with including sound, along with the inflexibility of teaching purported within the education system, too. I still have stress dreams about if this will face legal action if I have not checked the facts enough, or if this could cause more harm than good.

The method starts by telling you everything you need to have chopped and prepared before you start cooking; as someone who naturally approaches cooking in this way, to not have to scour through the recipe for these prep steps is fantastic. With our cookbook, you'll discover scrumptious recipes that have been carefully crafted to appeal to even the most selective eaters.Not all autistic individuals will struggle – but I’d argue that those who don’t are extraordinarily lucky, and probably the product of a degree of privilege, such as if someone in a supporting role has had the time to teach and adapt to your specific needs.