Helping Hands – Community Dialysis Cookbook
Partners: ︎︎︎Vital Arts, ︎︎︎Kidney Care UK
Collaborators: ︎︎︎Helen Graves (recipe developer), Ashwini Menon (renal dietitian)
Design: Benya Singusaha, Cancan Huang, Etty Flynn & Romina Krosnyak
Planned output: cookbook
Interim outputs: recipe cards, Tate Exchange events 2017 & 2018, videos
Initial research project development funded by: Creative Voucher scheme, Creativeworks London, AHRC
Year: ongoing
Links: ︎︎︎webpage on Vital Arts website
Watch:
︎︎︎Recipe Cards feedback video by Amy Haigh & Jacob Hobbs
︎︎︎Kallas Cooking Tips video by Daniela Barbeira, Eva Afifah Rd and Savannah Bader
︎︎︎Recipe Testing video by Andrea Li, Elie Fourcroy, Chika Kusumahadi and Michelle Lim
Collaborators: ︎︎︎Helen Graves (recipe developer), Ashwini Menon (renal dietitian)
Design: Benya Singusaha, Cancan Huang, Etty Flynn & Romina Krosnyak
Planned output: cookbook
Interim outputs: recipe cards, Tate Exchange events 2017 & 2018, videos
Initial research project development funded by: Creative Voucher scheme, Creativeworks London, AHRC
Year: ongoing
Links: ︎︎︎webpage on Vital Arts website
Watch:
︎︎︎Recipe Cards feedback video by Amy Haigh & Jacob Hobbs
︎︎︎Kallas Cooking Tips video by Daniela Barbeira, Eva Afifah Rd and Savannah Bader
︎︎︎Recipe Testing video by Andrea Li, Elie Fourcroy, Chika Kusumahadi and Michelle Lim
People with kidney disease have a very restricted diet. They need to avoid salt, potassium and phosphate which are found in numerous everyday ingredients – including many fruits and vegetables – making it difficult to prepare flavoursome meals. People from ethnic minority groups are at greater risk of developing chronic kidney disease and yet there are no culturally diverse renal cookery books available. Barts Health NHS Trust serves dialysis patients from a great variety of ethnic backgrounds. We have learned that many know how to adapt their own cuisine to the requirements of their restricted diet.
In collaboration with Vital Arts and Kidney Care UK, with professional recipe writer Helen Graves and specialist renal dietitian Ashwini Menon, I am developing a Community Dialysis Cookery Book that will enable this heterogeneous community to share their dispersed culinary knowledge with each other and the broader renal patient community.
The pilot project, funded by Creativeworks London, resulted in the production of three recipe cards. In 2017, after the success of this pilot, Vital Arts showcased the project as part of their Tate Exchange programme. The event featured collaborations with Central Saint Martins design students who created a stop frame video (︎︎︎Kalla’s Cooking Tips) to support the promotion of the recipe cards.
Following Tate Exchange, the project received funding from Kidney Care UK to produce a full cookbook with recipes gathered from patients. Recipe writer Helen Graves interviewed patients across Barts Health NHS Trust about their favourite foods and collecting recipes for the cookbook, assisted by Ashwini Menon, a renal dietitan.
A second presentation at Tate Exchange saw three groups of students test potential designs for the cookbook. The winning design by Benya Singusaha, Cancan Huang, Etty Flynn & Romina Krosnyak, ‘Helping Hands’, celebrates the idea of sharing culinary knowledge, hints and tips amongst the renal community.
In collaboration with Vital Arts and Kidney Care UK, with professional recipe writer Helen Graves and specialist renal dietitian Ashwini Menon, I am developing a Community Dialysis Cookery Book that will enable this heterogeneous community to share their dispersed culinary knowledge with each other and the broader renal patient community.
The pilot project, funded by Creativeworks London, resulted in the production of three recipe cards. In 2017, after the success of this pilot, Vital Arts showcased the project as part of their Tate Exchange programme. The event featured collaborations with Central Saint Martins design students who created a stop frame video (︎︎︎Kalla’s Cooking Tips) to support the promotion of the recipe cards.
Following Tate Exchange, the project received funding from Kidney Care UK to produce a full cookbook with recipes gathered from patients. Recipe writer Helen Graves interviewed patients across Barts Health NHS Trust about their favourite foods and collecting recipes for the cookbook, assisted by Ashwini Menon, a renal dietitan.
A second presentation at Tate Exchange saw three groups of students test potential designs for the cookbook. The winning design by Benya Singusaha, Cancan Huang, Etty Flynn & Romina Krosnyak, ‘Helping Hands’, celebrates the idea of sharing culinary knowledge, hints and tips amongst the renal community.
Recipe cards based on patients’ recipes
Still from recipe Cards feedback video, view︎︎︎HERE
UAL students Daniela Barbeira, Eva Afifah Rd, Savannah Bader and Gunjan Kaul (& me) at Tate Exchange, 2017
Stills from “Kalla’ cooking tips” video, produced at Tate Exchange, 2017, view video ︎︎︎HERE
Recipe book design by UAL students Benya Singusaha, Cancan Huang, Etty Flynn & Romina Krosnyak
Display by Benya Singusaha, Cancan Huang, Etty Flynn & Romina Krosnyak at Tate Exchange, 2018
Recipe developer Helen Graves tests a recipe with renal patient Bob, video still, watch video 
Algerian couscous with lamb (and coleslaw), kidney friendly recipe, video still, watch video