First Catch Your Rabbit!: Or Cooking Without Fear

Losing your sight is dreadful. Losing it entirely is devastating. Losing your wife and best friend so there are no eyes in your home is pushing the bounds of endurance. Losing your favourite dog is just careless. In such a situation you either laugh or you cry.

When you are entirely alone and completely blind crying is not an option. That is the quick route to the helter skelter of depression, helplessness and surrender to fate. The author, a former Royal Marine, chose to laugh in the face of adversity. This is not hubris, ignorance of the implications, machismo gone mad or even hysteria! It is the only rational route out of a comprehensive disaster.

How he regained the kitchen so he could feed himself is outlined in this book. To be able to cook what you want when you want is a major element in the path to independence and reclaiming your life after sight loss.

How he did it, entirely alone, blind and dodging three dogs and a cat called Spitfire is anybody’s guess.

The equipment, techniques he reinvented and level of organisation are all described in the book. Everything was learned on the hoof. The author, just like the bumble bee, was theoretically unable to do it but did it anyway.

It is not a cook book. It is a survival manual for working in the kitchen when you are totally blind. There is nothing mysterious or exceptional here, it is all reasonable, logical and above all doable.

Note: no rabbit was harmed or even caught whilst writing this book.