Creative ActivitiesMake something together

Stories and talk

Start a family recipe book

Talk about favorite dishes and write them down together, one page at a time.

Who might enjoy it: Cooks and bakers who like to talk about food, and families who love sharing dishes from holidays and Sunday dinners. A good pick for someone who enjoys being the expert on family cooking.

Setup
About 5 minutes
Activity
15–40 minutes
Cost
Low cost
Mess
No mess
Where
At a table, seated-friendly
Help
Someone nearby

Materials: 5 everyday things, listed below

Start activity

What you need

  • A notebook, binder or a few sheets of lined paper
  • A pen that writes easily
  • Old recipe cards or cookbooks, if you have them
  • A few pictures of food from magazines or packaging (optional)
  • A folder or envelope to keep loose pages together

No need to buy anything special

  • No notebook? Staple a few sheets of printer paper together or use index cards.
  • Writing is tiring? They talk and you write, or type it and print it later.

What to do

  1. Sit together at a table with the notebook open to a blank page.
  2. Ask about a dish they liked to make or eat, such as a Sunday meal or a holiday treat.
  3. Write the name of the dish at the top of the page.
  4. Ask what went into it and write the ingredients as a simple list. Rough amounts are fine.
  5. Ask how it was made and write the steps in their own words.
  6. Invite a story, such as who made it, where it was eaten, or what it smelled like.
  7. Read the page back aloud and change anything they want changed.
  8. Stop after one page, or carry on with another dish if you both want to.

It is okay to stop or change it

It is fine to stop after a single dish name. Close the book, leave it somewhere easy to find, and offer to add another page on a different day.

Make it easier or different

Make it easier
Choose the dish together from two or three food pictures, and write only the name and one sentence about it.
With children
A grandchild writes or types while the older adult tells the recipe. The child can draw the dish beside it.
For a group
Each person shares one dish. Collect the pages into a shared group book and make a copy for everyone.
For low vision
Write in large, dark letters on unlined paper, one ingredient per line, and read each line aloud as you go.
Without words
Show pictures of foods and let them point to favorites. Write down what they chose, in their own book.

Safety

  • This is a writing and talking activity, not cooking. Keep it away from a hot stove or oven, and do not test recipes during the session.
  • Food memories can bring up people who have died or hard times. Pause, listen, and let them lead, or move to another dish.
  • There are no wrong answers. If amounts or steps sound unusual, write them as told rather than correcting them.
  • If you later cook a recipe together, check for allergies, swallowing needs and diet advice first.

These are practical suggestions, not medical advice. You know the person best.

A recipe book grows a page at a time, and every page is a small story. Talking about food is familiar and easy to join, and the finished book becomes something the whole family can keep and cook from later.

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