I thought I would use this post to answer a question I am often asked
and that is, how do you cook without sight? Since cooking is
one of the main jobs of a mom, aside from perhaps laundry, I think
this is a sensible question. And since a lot of aspects of
cooking certainly utilize sight, I can understand why this question
is asked so much. It can be difficult to write down how I do
something that, after all these years, just seems so normal, but I
will do my best.
I think this will be a much more amusing post if I give some
backstory. I never cooked growing up. I mean, not even a
little. In high school, I went to a summer training program to
learn how to do things using alternative techniques as a blind
person. Most of the staff were blind and it was encouraging to
see them perform these tasks. I did some basic cooking there
but when I attempted to make a box mix cornbread, I somehow set the
oven on fire.
In case anyone is worried, I've come a long way since then and I am
feeding my family quite safely and well. So when I graduated
high school, I went back to the adult version of that training
program. I like to call it blindness boot-camp. By the
end of it, I had to cook a meal for 40 people. I made chili, salad,
and cornbread. There were no fires, everyone seemed to enjoy it, and
to my knowledge, no one got sick. :)
When I first started college, I took steps back in my culinary
endeavors, making heavy use of the cafeteria and microwave.
Once I moved out of the dorms into the on-campus apartments, I did
actually start cooking. But I mainly utilized the crockpot and
rotated the same 3 or 4 recipes continuously. Sadly, this
somewhat lazy method persisted for quite a bit into my marriage.
Luke would often do most of the cooking; he didn't complain and
neither did I, he's a good cook.
A few years ago, when we first arrived in Utah, an acquaintance
taught me how to make bread. Like, real bread from scratch.
And I was actually successful at it! This spurred me on to want
to try new things, and I have begun to enjoy learning new recipes,
some of which are more complicated than I ever would have attempted
before. My favorite so far is gumbo. :)
So now that you know about my cooking journey, how do I do it
practically? Well, for starters, I follow recipes, they are
just on the computer. There are screenreading programs which
will read everything out loud; it's easy to go through my recipes
folder and pick out something for dinner.
As far as knowing where ingredients and utensils are, that's fairly
easy, at least in my own kitchen. I have a system, which I'll
readily admit could be more organized, but it works for me.
Many ingredients, like flour or sugar or salt, for example, have a
different texture and it's easy to know which is which.
Obviously for things that are in boxes or cans, I either ask Luke for
help identifying or if I'm feeling particularly ambitious, will put
braille labels on things. There is also an app for my phone,
which can scan the barcodes of items, although I'm cheap and haven't
thought it necessary to spend the money on it yet, but that is
another way of solving the identification problem.
Now, to the actual cooking. I make more use of my hands than
most people would. Don't worry, they are always thoroughly
washed. It's not that I don't use utensils for mixing and such,
it's just that, for me, I find I have a much better idea about what
is happening with the food if I use my fingers. I can tell how
well things are mixed or if the consistency of a batter is correct.
Another method that I use is smell, particularly with meat or
vegetables. When said items are done they have a certain
aroma. The spatula and wooden spoon are basically like my
kitchen canes; I can deduce a lot from the texture or thickness of
the food. Sound is another key element of knowing if something
needs more cook time. I had to learn a lot of this by
repetition, but after many years of practice, I think I am in a good
culinary place. It will be exciting to teach my kids how to
cook. Hopefully no appliances will be set on fire, but who knows.
Lastly, I have been asked if, due to my blindness, I cut myself or
burn myself more than normal. Well, since I don't know
statistics on kitchen injuries, it's hard to say if my share of them
are above average or not. I have cut myself occasionally,
although the worst cut I ever had was not from a knife, but from the
lid of a can lol so go figure. I've also occasionally burned
myself from the hot pan on the stove or when getting/removing food
from the oven. However, everyone has those slight kitchen
injuries, and I don't think they are specifically related to
blindness. I am careful and use potholders and oven mitts, but
sometimes, even with all the precautions, accidents still happen.
Life goes on and we all continue to cook.
I'll end with a story. Back in college, I burned myself
decently when taking something out of the oven. I treated it
with over the counter stuff I had but after a few days, decided to go
to the on-campus clinic, just to make sure it was healing properly,
as it had blistered more than I expected. Based on the nurse's
tone of voice, when I told her how I had gotten the burn, you'd think
I'd stuck my hands inside a volcano or that I had a third-degree burn
or something. She also said that I probably shouldn't be around
such appliances anymore, to which I should have said, “Deal, if
you'll pay for all my meals from now on, I'll never cook again.”
Life and people can be rather amusing.
