The Nutrition and Dietetic department at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children (Yorkhill), Glasgow, ran another successful Low Protein Cooking session at a local Secondary School. This is the initiative of Barbara Cochrane, the Senior Paediatric Dietitian at the Hospital. She has been doing this for over 18 months now. It is designed to teach individuals new cooking skills and allow them to network together in an informal way, sharing the experience of bringing up a child (or children) with PKU or other related metabolic diseases.
With the help of Mona Taylor, a Food Nutritional Advisor, and feed back from the participants, the sessions are always focused on a particular topic. Last night the subject was “Bread Revisited”. The participants were allowed to build on their experience of baking basic bread (the first ever cooking session). This time Mona showed everyone how to infuse flavour into the bread, how interesting shapes could be created and how to pipe the dough.
Everyone who attends finds the experience a great benefit. It also allows the child to get involved and promotes greater independence.
Earlier this year Barbara also organised a training session for dietitians at the Nick Nairn School of Cookery. Here a team of professional chefs looked at what could be done to make Low Protein foods more interesting. It also provided the dietitians with “hands on” experience in making simple Low Protein recipes.