Blind woman Julie Woods will give a cooking demonstration
today in the Balclutha Memorial Hall. Photo by Peter
McIntosh.
The kitchen can be a dangerous place, full of hot and
sharp objects, which is bad enough when you can see. How
do blind people manage?
Today, in the Balclutha Memorial Hall, Julie Woods, who has
been blind for 13 years, will demonstrate "cooking without
looking".
"For some reason, people don't think about blind people
cooking," she said.
Ms Woods, of Dunedin, went blind at the age of 31, after
retinal inflammation.
With a husband and two young sons to feed, she had to learn
to "cook with my other senses".
"I cook all the meals at home. And I do quite a bit of baking
for the boys.
"I tend to stick with simple recipes and then adapt them."
For dinner last night, Ms Woods cooked butter chicken for the
family.
Ms Woods, who has instructions on kitchen safety from the
Foundation for the Blind, relies on touch and smell to cook.
She says she has only suffered a couple of minor accidents
while cooking.
"Hot oven racks are the prime way of injuring myself.
"Once you get a bit more confident, you stop paying
attention," she said.
Ms Woods said she starts to daydream, and that is when
accidents can happen.
The recipe Ms Woods will be demonstrating today is truffles,
made with biscuit crumbs, butter and three ingredients taken
from different braille-coded containers.
The sensation of touch, and the way containers feel, is a big
part of the cooking process, Ms Woods said.
"One thing I do with the truffle demonstration is cut
licorice with scissors.
"People are always worried I'm going to cut my fingers, but I
still have all 10."
Ms Woods has become a professional speaker in the past year,
and has given cooking demonstrations on television.
She attended the 200th birthday celebrations of Louis Braille
in Paris last year, and travelled through the Middle East on
her way home, which she described as "an unbelievable
experience".
Ms Woods and her partner, Ron Esplin, will lead a two-week
tour for blind and visually impaired travellers through the
Middle East in May next year.
rachel.taylor@odt.co.nz
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