It has 100 recipes, with around 30 taken from autistic people of different ages, genders, and sexual orientations, while other interviewees contributed their expertise to other chapters. Articles litter the internet detailing how diabolically awful the service is, and how ableism is ingrained at a base level throughout. I have a degree of privilege in that I am able to speak and engage with people; this is so often reflected by the surprise people express when they find out I am autistic. You do not see the hours of preparation, planning, scripting to just be able to sit at the table with ordinary folk, let alone to even be a part of proceedings. You don’t see the frustration, the learning, the constant adjusting. Character references had to be presented to the service. A specialist in ‘autistic girls’ (I am over 18, therefore not a girl) assessed me initially. Ostensibly I just need prompting to talk to people, and show no sign of communication issues – which is arguably the definition of autism on a medical level! I can ostensibly read without assistance, despite being a full-time glasses wearer – with a pretty strong prescription for the lenses I have. Key skills such as cooking, despite my spiky profile and terrible motor skills limiting me in some aspects, can ‘just be learnt’. The strong implication under the spiky words of a stranger was that this was somehow a lifestyle choice I had willingly chosen. The Kid-Friendly ADHD & Autism Cookbook, 3rd Edition explains the best diets for children with food intolerances and hypersensitivities that stem from altered biochemistry and which may be causing problems in learning, behavior, development, attention, sensory responses, sleep, and digestion. The authors provide guidelines to help parents determine which diets may be helpful for their child’s specific symptoms and needs. I have her original cookbook, Delicously Ella, but she has a few more out now, like this one,that talks about batch cooking. (Hhhhmmmm….maybe that would help me, big time!)

The Kid-Friendly ADHD and Autism Cookbook makes it easy for you, step, by little step, to begin a healthier food journey. From there a step-by-step method follows. What I thought was excellent about the methods is nothing is assumed; everything is explained but the reader isn’t patronised at all. The recipe writers tell you not only what to do but what piece of equipment to do it with and what will happen in terms of the appearance, texture, and smell to the ingredient you are using. Finally, each method is finished with ideas to expand the dish or alter it to suit your food sensory preferences.One thing was clear: The book was very much needed. I finished writing in a 10 month period in 2021. Of course, I had to try the food! I want to preface this by saying that l am an experienced cook, who was privileged to receive an education in food as I was growing up. I also have ADHD, so I’m what the book would describe as “sensory seeking” when it comes to food. The DWP was suggesting I didn’t meet the threshold for support, effectively as I wasn’t ostensibly disabled enough.

I had to admit that I honestly wasn’t sure. I know how my physical disability and ADHD affect me in the kitchen but being someone who didn’t realise they are autistic until recently, I hadn’t really thought about how my autism impacted my ability to follow a recipe and cook a meal. I identified with several of the things Lydia mentions, gifting me language to describe something I’ve struggled with all my life but never been able to explain before. Thank you, Lydia! The recipes also offer adaptations for people who are sensory seekers, sensory avoiders or who want to broaden their cooking horizons in the kitchen. The book has four core chapters and suits a range of dietary needs including vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free and dairy-free. Around the same kind of time, my mentor died suddenly. The last thing he’d ever said to me acted as something of a spark to the fuse of an idea. We’d spoken about conversations about me ghostwriting the book of someone we both knew at the time – and the excitement on that was almost child-like, immediately instructing me how to write this, who to talk to, why, and what questions to ask. The voice whispered down the phone line, from thousands of miles away. If I was to ever be offered a contract, send it to me, it said. Knowing that someone, somewhere, has faith in you is a powerful act. I never thought I’d put pen to paper as part of a long form project; that to me was what the ‘boy’s club’ of ‘proper journalists’ would do!More than a cookbook, Lydia has produced a book that is an excellent educational tool, a model for accessible and inclusive cookbooks, and an important piece of advocacy for the autistic community. Many autistic people spoke or wrote to me about how they did not learn how to cook or prepare food because lessons were not accessible. The 3rd edition of The Kid-Friendly ADHD & Autism Cookbook provides a current and greatly expanded review of the most commonly used diets that are important in the treatment of ADHD and autism. There are recipes appropriate to specific diets as indicated by icons and descriptors with each recipe. The authors share details about just how and why each diet works, examine specialty ingredients in-depth, and provide extensive resources and references. Right at the beginning, in the preface, Lydia perfectly describes the paradox of being autistic: that we can simultaneously carry out hugely complex tasks but then struggle with the ‘ordinary’ things of life.