Ian Taverner

I am a unique cooking coach, author, food writer and presenter, leading my Cookfulness Cooking Revolution to make cooking truly accessible, adaptable, repeatable and fun for absolutely everyone.

Why “coach?” If you attend a single athletics coaching session, you can't expect to be the 100m world champion straight away, so why any difference with cooking? It is a skill, an art and takes practice. I coach all age groups, all skill ranges and everyone from our wonderful disabled and chroncially ill communities, to not only get into the kitchen and cook, but want to cook, love to cook and really boost their independence and wellbeing, every single day!

I am the creator and author of Cookulness, the first ever cookbook designed specifically for people like me, who are disabled and/or chronically ill, focussing on busting the many mental and/or physical barriers that cooking presents.

I had a long career in Financial Services before my health started to fail, resulting in my eventually losing my job and large aspects of family life. I saw cooking as an opportunity to grab back some pride, some passion, some purpose, but it was a total disaster to begin with! The kitchen is full of sharp, heavy, hot, inaccessible things, with painful physical and mental challenges. I couldn't cook or even approach cooking as I had done before.

My cookbook was a direct consequence of this, working through every single barrier that presented itself to find practical, achievable and enjoyable solutions to allow me to cook and absolutely love to do it, even down to how my recipes are presented and delivered! Following the incredible reception for and success of the book, I am now in huge demand delivering cooking courses, programmes, shows and talks here in the UK and Internationally, to large Charities, Hospitals, Organisations and Festivals. The gap and the need were incredibly clear!

I deliver fully bespoke services, ranging from shows at the NEC to thousands, through to 1 to 1 coaching, all delivered in my unique fully interactive style filled with fun, laughter and celebrations! I know that no two days are the same so have developed my “12 Steps To The Happy Stuff”, a special toolkit provided to allow you to identify and smash through any barrier, mental and/or physical, that the kitchen and cooking presents you before, during or after cooking, to allow you to cook safely, joyfully, progressively and repeatedly every single day.

I am also now the feature recipe writer for 2 leading Disability Lifestyle Magazines, Disability Review and Able and appeared and cooked live on Channel 4's Sunday Brunch, the first ever disabled cook to get the highly sought after main Guest Chef slot!