Today’s Solutions: November 02, 2024

Food writers Ryan Riley and Kimberely Duke, co-founders of Life Kitchen, a not-for-profit cookery school for people whose taste has been affected by cancer treatment, have put their heads together again to tackle a new project: a cookbook for those with parosmia, a symptom of Covid-19.

What’s parosmia?

Parosmia is a distorted sense of smell, which many people who contract Covid-19 suffer from, sometimes for months after infection if they are afflicted with long Covid. It can make everyday things like vegetables and coffee taste repulsive.

This can be a devastating experience, but Riley and Duke are on the case with their new cookbook, Taste & Flavour. The pair have been experimenting with food flavors since 2018, but to create this new cookbook, they “had to flip what we knew about writing recipes on its head,” Riley said.

To start out, they consulted food scientists, who recommended that they combine the five flavor elements: aroma, umami, texture, layering, and trigeminal food sensations (the tingling sensation from spices) to invent their meals.

A flip through Taste & Flavour will reveal an array of dishes including a fiery tomato soup with sesame seed butter toast and veggie pineapple tacos with red peppers and feta.

Gillian Dixon has been experiencing anosmia, the loss of smell, for almost an entire year, and she was one of the first people to try the recipes in the book. According to her, “the recipes are absolutely brilliant… [and] really stimulate your tastebuds.”

To try out the recipes for yourself, download Taste & Flavour for free here.

Source Image: Life Kitchen

Solutions News Source Print this article
More of Today's Solutions

This heartwarming Danish ad breaks down the ‘Us vs Them’ narrative

It’s rare that we publish a story about an advertisement, but then again it’s rare that an ad stirs so much emotion within its ...

Read More

NOAHs: Charlotte has a formula for long-lasting affordable housing

We recently shared how empty retail space could be the solution to California’s affordable housing crisis. Across the country in North Carolina, the city ...

Read More

A seat at the table for underrepresented communities

Climate change is already affecting all of us—however, those that bear the brunt of these consequences are predominantly from low-income, marginalized, BIPOC communities. So ...

Read More

Expanding democracy: Michigan opens new doors for formerly incarcerated voters

Malijah Gee's path from incarceration at the age of 17 to imminent freedom reflects the longing for a voice that has been suppressed for 36 years. ...

Read More