Chef Launches Free Cookbook for Covid Taste-Loss

A free cookbook designed for people experiencing a loss of taste and smell due to Covid-19 will be published this month.

The cookbook, Taste & Flavour, was written by British chefs Ryan Riley and Kimberley Duke and is intended to help those whose sense of taste has been affected by Covid-19, to get them enjoying their food again, and help them experience flavour combinations in a new way.

Riley is the founder of Life Kitchen, a non-profit organisation that provides cooking classes for those undergoing cancer treatment. When Riley’s mother underwent cancer treatment, he became aware of how distressing it can be for a patient to lose their sense of taste. Losing the means to enjoy food can often lead a patient to avoid eating, at a time when optimum nutrition is needed to aid in any recovery.

So Riley applied his skills and knowledge to the problem, and developed a school of cookery with the cancer patient in mind. He has worked with many cancer organisations, such as the World Cancer Research Fund.

Now, however, Riley is applying his skills to the problems faced by people suffering from 'long Covid'. Since the outbreak of Covid-19 and the subsequent pandemic, it is well known that a primary symptom of the disease is the loss of the senses of smell and taste. The apparent damage to the sensory apparatus can remain for months after the patient has recovered from all other symptoms.

It is not fully understood why this novel coronavirus affects the sense of taste and smell, but it is thought that since the virus is transmitted primarily in the membranes in the nose and mouth, it could directly invade the nerve cells associated with these two senses. The cause and effect of sensorial damage is completely different to that experienced as a result of chemotherapy and cancer treatment, therefore this problem required a completely different solution.

"The normal recipes that we'd be looking to integrate into people's lives, we can't do," Riley told CTV News in Toronto. "Things like garlic and onions and eggs, for many people with long Covid are really repulsive to them so we've had to look at how we can really rejig what food is to create a delicious recipe."

Taste & Flavour is free to anyone who needs it, only postage needs to be paid, and it is available in the mainland UK.

The free cookbook will be available for download on 29 March. You can sign up to get an email notification for when the book comes out here.