The Disability Book Archive

[ID: A book cover. The background is solid black, with writing down the left side and the photograph of a well used spoon in the upper right half of the image. Some kind of liquid is dripping from the spoon. The text, from top to bottom, reads:
The authors name “Jules Sherred” in small white capitals at the top, in the centre,
The title “Crip Up the Kitchen” in large yellow capitals down the majority of the left side of the cover,
The subtitle “Tools, Tips and Recipes for the Disabled Cook” immediately below this, in smaller, white capitals across the bottom of the cover. /end]

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Content Warning:

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Summary:

“I’ve never felt so understood and supported as I did reading Crip Up the Kitchen . Sherred is the kitchen whisperer for chronic pain folks like me who have avoided that room in the house for most of my life.” ―J. Albert Mann, author of The Degenerates and Fix

A comprehensive guide and recipe collection that brings the economy and satisfaction of home cooking to disabled and neurodivergent cooks.

Cripping / Crip Up: A term used by disabled disability rights advocates and academia to signal taking back power, to lessen stigma, and to disrupt ableism as to ensure disabled voices are included in all aspects of life.

When Jules Sherred discovered the Instant Pot multicooker, he was thrilled. And incensed. How had no one told him what a gamechanger this could be, for any home cook but in particular for those with disabilities and chronic illness? And so the experimenting—and the evangelizing—began.

The kitchen is the most ableist room in the house. With 50 recipes that make use of three key tools—the electric pressure cooker, air fryer, and bread machine—Jules has set out to make the kitchen accessible and enjoyable. The book includes pantry prep, meal planning, shopping guides, kitchen organization plans, and tips for cooking safely when disabled, all taking into account varying physical abilities and energy levels.

Organized from least to greatest effort (or from 1 to “all your spoons,” for spoonies), beginning with spice blends and bases, Jules presents thorough, tested, inclusive recipes for making favourites like butter chicken, Jules’s Effin’ Good Chili, Thai winter squash soup, roast dinners, matzo balls, pho, samosas, borshch, shortbread, lemon pound cake, and many more.

Jules also provides a step-by-step guide to safe canning and a template for prepping your freezer and pantry for post-surgery. With rich accompanying photography and food histories, complete nutritional information and methods developed specifically for the disabled and neurodivergent cook, Crip Up the Kitchen is at once inviting, comprehensive, and accessible. If you’ve craved the economy and satisfaction of cooking at home but been turned off by the ableist approach of most cookbooks—this one’s for you! 

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Notes:

There is a kindle edition of this book.

This is a link to a page on the author’s website about the book.

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Archivist Comments:

I actually first came across this book through this tumblr post, and then it was suggested to me again a few weeks later when I started building up The Archive. I just love the whole idea of a cookbook designed specifically to help disabled people. And the author themself is disabled!

Now, unfortunately, most of the recipes in the book apparently require some kind of instant pot or air fryer.

However! I have seen a lot pf praise directed towards the “tips and tricks” portion of it. It gives advice about meal prepping and planning (including for surgery), uses spoon theory and organises recipes by the amount of “spoons” they may take (i.e. by effort), and there is a contents page of recipes at the beginning.

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