Featuring: The ADHD Cooking School

Article
By Tom McGrath
15/02/19

Subtitle

How can we shift perceptions on mental disorders?

Contents

1. Loyle

2. The Cooking School

3. Future Ambitions

4. More than just cooking

The ADHD Cooking School by GOMA and Loyle Carner

Growing up with ADHD, Loyle Carner always found that cooking helped him concentrate and channel his energy in a positive way. With the ADHD Cooking School, the South Londoner hopes to use his experiences to help future generations, and tackle perceptions about ADHD and other mental disorders.

Subtitle

How can we shift perceptions on mental disorders?

Contents

1. Loyle

2. The Cooking School

3. Future Ambitions

4. More than just cooking

Growing up with ADHD, Loyle Carner always found that cooking helped him concentrate and channel his energy in a positive way. With the ADHD Cooking School, the South Londoner hopes to use his experiences to help future generations, and tackle perceptions about ADHD and other mental disorders.
1. Loyle

Everyone has something to offer the world, you just need to find your groove. School isn’t the best outlet for everyone, and for that reason, it’s not fair to judge people purely on academic ability. As a young person, it can be difficult to find a place where you feel comfortable and motivated; especially when you suffer from any type of mental disorder.

Loyle Carner is a rapper from South London. His Mercury Prize nominated debut album, Yesterday’s Gone, which was released in 2017, has received high praise. However, what is probably less known about the 24 year old, is that he also has a passion for cooking. The rapper, whose real name is Ben, grew up with ADHD, a disorder that is associated with struggling to pay attention and controlling impulsive behaviour. Growing up, Ben found that cooking was something that helped him focus. It allowed him to channel his energy into something positive, and from a young age, Ben became comfortable cooking for himself and his family.

Loyle Carner by Amit Lennon

2. The Cooking School

Many years later, whilst pursuing a career as a musician, cooking remains a safe place for Loyle Carner. It allows him to find peace amongst all of the busyness, and this was exactly what he felt others with ADHD could benefit from. In the summer of 2016, Loyle Carner came together with GOMA, a collective that focuses on creative projects with a social and environment conscience. Together, they founded The ADHD Cooking School; an initiative that would invite children with ADHD to learn to cook, with the end goal of hosting a dining experience for the public.

Following the success of the ADHD Cooking Schools inaugural class, GOMA and Loyle Carner have since produced a limited range of tees, a mini cookbook and held an event. It’s great to see a collaboration that creates new opportunities for young individuals, who otherwise may feel neglected in traditional educational systems. We hope that The ADHD Cooking School can continue to grow, and offer a space for more young people to learn about both cookery and themselves.

3. Future Ambitions

Loyle Carner hopes that the ADHD Cooking School can become a place that doesn’t have to turn anyone away. The project has already proved a huge success, and has inspired both the students of the school and onlookers, like us. We would love to see the school run all year around, or perhaps even undertake visiting classes within actual schools, who knows? What we do know, is that it certainly has huge potential.

It is very easy to underestimate the impact that projects like The ADHD Cooking School have on young people. However, I believe that it provides the very first step in understanding the needs of kids who work a little differently from 'the norm'. In fact I would go as far to say that the term 'mental disorder' isn't fair at all. We are all wired a little differently, so why should we judge one person as 'ordered' and another 'disordered'. Perhaps instead of blaming the individual, we should look at how we can adapt our educational systems to support people in different ways. It goes without saying, that the solution isn't as simple as it sounds. However, The ADHD Cooking School is the perfect example of how one part of the solution may look.

Salmon En Croute by Amit Lennon

Loyle Carner by Amit Lennon

4. More than just cooking

The aim of the project, put simply, is to bring the best out of people. It's about building a space where anyone can feel comfortable and express themselves through the art of cooking. For example, one girl who attended the first cooking school didn’t suffer from ADHD, however she did suffer from anxiety. It goes to show that there is no limit as to how and where a project like this can be applied to help people. It isn't a one size fits all solution. Instead, it allows every individual to approach it in their own way. Whether that be through the dish they choose to make, or the spices they choose to add, freedom of expression is key in understanding what makes you happy.

This leaves us asking, how can we create more initiatives that support mental disorders? And can we make them more readily available? Whether through cooking, art or sport, the most important fact remains identifying a way in which people can be happy and achieve success. The ADHD Cooking School is more than just learning how to cook. It is understanding that we all have unique attributes and ways of thinking, that should be nurtured and celebrated. And that it's this uniqueness, that makes us who we are.

  • Featuring: The ADHD Cooking School

Bibliography

ADHD Cooking School, Loyle Carner x GOMA
‘Rapper’s delight: how musician Loyle Carner is teaching kids to cook’, Ed Cummings (The Guardian)
Loyle Carner (https://loylecarner.com/)
GOMA (https://gomacollective.com/)
Amit Lennon (http://www.amitlennon.com/)

Social

The ADHD Cooking School (@chilliconcarner)
GOMA (@gomacollective)
Loyal Carner (@loylecarner)

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