To help people with swallowing problems continue to eat well and enjoy good food (again), dietitian Joëlle Hagen from the Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (AVL) developed together with her colleagues from speech therapy and a chef cookbook: FINE! This free online cookbook is practical for patients, caregivers and institutional chefs.
Different food thicknesses
The book contains 17 tasty everyday dishes, such as cod fillet with mashed potatoes, caprese salad and French toast with apple and cinnamon, which are easy to swallow at different levels of thickness. Useful for dieticians: the thickness of the food is indicated in each recipe IDDSI level (International Dysphagia Diet Standardization Initiative). The book contains recipes for IDDSI level 4 (very thick liquid/smoothly ground) and 5 (finely ground and smooth). The cookbook explains the different IDDSI levels and shows how you can test which level a dish falls into. The cookbook also offers inspiration and advice on how to adjust a meal in terms of consistency, so that everyone at the table can eat the same thing.
Eating together
Many people come to the AVL who have difficulty swallowing and therefore no longer eat properly. Joëlle Hagen: ‘As a dietician at the AVL, I mainly work in the head and neck oncology department. Here I see many patients with swallowing problems as a result of the disease and/or treatment. We treat more than 3,300 patients with head and neck cancer at the AVL every year. What we see in these patients is that eating and eating with others can become more difficult. Now we can give them inspiration for cooking smooth or finely ground dishes and provide information on how to adjust a meal in terms of thickness. It’s much more fun when you can eat together!’
Available online
The (online) cookbook is suitable for all people with swallowing problems. In the Netherlands, an estimated 6 percent of the population has swallowing problems, for example due to old age, a neurological disorder or cancer. The book is also practical for healthcare providers who work with people with swallowing problems or chefs in healthcare institutions.
Source: Anthony van Leeuwenhoek
