Study Finds Skilled Cooks With Visual Impairment Still Face Kitchen Barriers

A study of 121 adults with visual impairment in Brazil found that although all participants had medium or high culinary skills, many still faced practical barriers that limited their independence in the kitchen, according to research published in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior.

The cross-sectional study, carried out at a national educational and rehabilitation institute in Brazil, used an adapted culinary skills questionnaire and structured interviews to assess participants' meal-preparation abilities, confidence in cooking tasks and the barriers they face in everyday culinary activities. Results showed 78.5% of participants had medium culinary skills and 21.5% had high skills, with none classified as having low skills, but these scores did not fully reflect their functional autonomy in the kitchen.

Many participants reported difficulty accessing food in their homes, following recipes and using certain cooking techniques, and more than 40% said they struggled with tasks such as measuring ingredients and properly sanitizing food. Black participants were more likely to have high culinary skills and greater autonomy using ovens, stoves and frying techniques, while participants who primarily used braille were less likely to reach high culinary skill levels than those who relied on audio-based reading methods.

"Having culinary skills on paper does not necessarily translate to full independence in the kitchen," said Simone Augusta Ribas, the study's lead investigator and a professor at the Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro. "Our findings highlight the importance of addressing practical and environmental barriers that individuals with visual impairment face in their daily lives." The researchers said accessible kitchen tools, alternative reading formats and targeted training programs could help address the gap.