'Cooking Blindly' calls on all the senses to create an accessible cookbook for the visually impaired

FOOD brand Maggi has created the first sensory culinary guide for people with visual impairments. The experience calls on all the senses to help people get cooking and follow recipes. Currently available only in Brazil, the guide is eagerly awaited elsewhere in the world.

Celebrating 100 years of Nestlé in Brazil, the Swiss food brand Maggi (which is owned by the food industry giant) teamed up with the Dorina Nowill Foundation for the Blind to create a unique object: the first sensory culinary guide for people with visual impairments. Indeed, Brazil is home to 6.5 million people with blindness or some visual impairment. From recipes to utensils to audio transcription, everything has been designed to make the joys of cooking more accessible to this category of the population, who may be less likely to try their hand in the kitchen.

An experience for all the senses

The cookbook is billed as a "sensory guide" and an experience for all the senses. It features 37 aromas of herbs, spices, and cheeses used in Brazilian cuisine for recognition and identification by smell, as well as embossed and high relief illustrations to explore through touch. Plus, audio transcriptions are available for all images, recipes and cooking tips in the book.

According to Maggi, cooking is an activity that everyone should be able to enjoy. In an effort to make it more accessible to its target users, the book is split into three parts. The first section goes over the basics, with utensils and practical advice for culinary creations. In the second part, it's time to get cooking. And the final section is dedicated specifically to the needs of visually impaired cooks, with utensils like audio weighing scales and a finger protector for cutting (an accessory could be handy for clumsy cooks too).