Cooks with ADHD find ways to thrive

Some resort to drawing recipes and relying on pre-cut ingredients to cope

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From a young age, Ms. Linda Yi loved watching her parents make Sichuan dishes inspired by their native Chengdu.

But when she asked them to go over a step or recipe she had watched them make dozens of times, they would reply the same way: "You still don't remember?"

In her mid-20s, when she became one of the 4.4 percent of adults aged 18 to 44 diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, her relationship to cooking changed for the better.

The diagnosis helped her "see the areas of my brain that need support", and to adapt, as many cooks with the disorder have.

For many adults, ADHD symptoms can present differently than they do in children, and in some cases, become more severe amid job and relationship stressors, according to the United States' Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

And these challenges prove especially true in the kitchen.

One of the major issues, YouTube creator Jessica McCabe explains in her book, How To ADHD, relates to "executive function", or the cognitive processes that tell you how to prioritize tasks, sustain attention and effectively plan for long- and short-term goals.