Oprah’s taking auditions for shows on her tv network, which I guess means that Oprah has a tv network now. (You see how closely I follow these things.) My aunt shared with me an audition from her friend Celia Chacon, who wants to do a cooking show. The catch: Celia is blind.
What a great show that could be! It would take the concept of showing that “anyone can cook” to a new level. In her video, Celia says she talks to a lot of people (sighted and non-sighted) who think they can’t cook. Celia’s a great example of overcoming whatever barriers (real or imagined) stand between a person and learning to cook.
It’s made me think about what the challenges would be in cooking without sight. Dropping things would be hard – I would make a big mess. You’d need to be extremely organized, not to mention disciplined about using what you buy and cleaning out the fridge (lest you discover something really nasty hiding in the back). I’m sure there are many challenges I haven’t thought of. But the most important sense in cooking, I think, is the sense of smell. Smell and taste – not appearance – is what really tells you if fruit is ripe, or if the cookies are done, or if you’ve got the balance of spices right. I bet Celia uses her sense of smell much better than I do.
If you’d like to see this show become a reality, please go vote for Celia!
One Comment
You’re definitely right about organization-you’ve got to know where things are, what they are, etc. Safety is a huge issue as well, much more so than for sighted cooks. For example, ignoring any preheat instructions. There are also techniques for measuring, cutting, etc.
One of a blind cook’s best friends is a timer. The phrase “that looks done” never comes into play.
In addition to using sense of smell, a blind cook uses hearing, even if it’s for something as simple as boiling water. If you can’t see it boil you need to know what it sounds like.