The Autism-Friendly Cookbook Paperback – November 21, 2022

Amazing

I wish the recipes had pictures but like how the book is organized.

I am neurodivergent and bought this for myself. I love that the recipes were from different people. The way the book is organized is great. I planned to pick a couple safe foods and build my grocery list accordingly. I also love the indication of how much energy it takes to make each recipe. Such a refreshing way to make a recipe book compared to the thousands of books out there.

Pros: Labeling recipes with energy level, sensory needs, and complexity is genius. Putting all required tools in a handy list at the beginning of the recipe is also great. I can see reformating ALL of my recipes this way.Cons: I found some of the directions fuzzy. For instance, a fruit salad recipe called for orange juice. Later we're told we can turn the salad into a dessert by drizzling chocolate over it but "don't add the orange juice before you do!" So... do we add the orange juice AFTER the chocolate, skip it entirely, or do whatever because it doesn't matter? I couldn't tell. That kind of thing popped up fairly frequently and I found it frustrating.I also found the measurements hit or miss. Like one recipe said to use a box of something, but then offered both weight and oz conversions. Great! But then another recipe said to use "a small pot... the sort you would serve mousse in." I have NO idea what that means. For serving mousse all I can think of is a ramekin, and that's not a pot. But it was a recipe for cereal, so should I be using a cereal bowl instead? And since that pot is the measurement for that recipe, the uncertainty there really matters.The last note here - and this is more of an observation than a pro or con - is that the author's idea of Low energy recipes often edged into Moderate for me, and the author's Moderate recipes were almost all too much. I'm as likely to manage the recipes rated High as I am to fly. Everyone's scale is different, which the author is very up-front about, but I found this cookbook too intense for my cooking needs more often than not.

My daughter is delighted with the way each recipe is presented. She is ready to do some cooking!

I'm an autistic person, and I got this book because finding recipes that fit my sensory avoidant needs is challenging. I thought that something that labeled each recipe as sensory avoidant (or seeking) would be such a relief. Sadly though, this book does not label the recipes well enough for me to reccomend this to any other autistic person. I also am returning the book, as I will never use it.Almost every recipe was labeled as sensory avoidant AND sensory seeking friendly, but they almost entirely consisted of fruits and veggies, which I have yet to meet a sensory avoidant person who like fruits and veggies. Typically, sensory avoidant people find the inconsistency of the texture and taste of fruits and veggies to be annoying. Also labels fish as sensory avoidant friendly, which I find strange since I've never met someone sensory avoidant who likes any kind of seafood.The picture I included is of a recipe which I think is labeled inappropriately, since the hand and cross icon indicates it's safe for sensory avoidant people. Even neurotypicals often don't like the texture of fruit in their cereal, much less a sensory avoidant person!Also, side note, the recipes are super healthy, which I dislike since it was not labeled as a healthy cookbook.

It’s okay for beginner cooks or those who struggle with being creative with their cooking substitutions. There aren’t as many recipes as I would have liked, but it’s not bad.

The Autism Friendly cookbook sounded like a dream to me. Something that categorized it’s recipes by how much energy you need to cook them and level of complexity sounded genius. However the instructions are incredibly vague. I’m not sure how much you know about us autistic folk, but we need specificity in our instruction. This book is a brilliant idea with excellent front matter, but the “meat and potatoes” so to speak left a lot to be desired.

Alright book just wish it wasnt damaged as there are multiple pages like that :(

The book has tons of recipes that come with amazing instructions and it even has helpful tips at the beginning for people who are new to cooking.

Excellent book! I love that it had advice for parents, carers and teachers, loads of fab recipes , easy instructions and handy suggestions. There’s lots of further rescource links to help cook for and with our neurofabulous children.Cooking is such an important basic life skill and it’s so vital for everyone’s daily life. I even gifted one to my friends son to get him started young ☺️

Like avocado toast-level simple

I'm a high functioning autistic adult and the book looks great when I brought it however its extremely heavily even in paperback and has no pictures or even broken down instructions when it comes to cooking... how exactly is this autistic friendly cookbook.. don't be fooled by the title of the book... its extremely misleading and I wasted money on a book which I thought would be wonderful.. 😔