close connections

In this new series, we talk to families and friends whose love of food has brought them closer together. Here, Julia Adamson and her daughter Lexie share the story behind Lexie’s website, lexiecooks.com

- PUNTEHA VAN TERHEYDEN

For as long as she can remember, Julia Adamson’s daughter, Lexie, has loved being in the kitchen. Their shared passion for cooking helped them forge an unbreakable bond, and has seen them through the tougher months of isolation during the pandemic.

‘It started when Lexie was little,’ Julia says, ‘I’d be prepping and this little hand would stretch up to the worktop, checking out what was going on.’

Lexie, 19, has Down’s Syndrome and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and Julia was told early on that a focus on speech and language – as well as food texture – would be important for Lexie’s development.

‘That’s why I sat Lexie in a highchair when she was a baby,’ Julia says, ‘and gave her a little of whatever I was cooking, be it pastry or cookie dough or vegetables, so she could strengthen her grip and explore the different textures. Her interest in food took on a life of its own after that.’

Cooking became a key developmental tool for Cooking opened upLexie’s early years learning and we’ve never stopped meaning, structuring and ordering instructions, doing something practical with purpose. It opened up her early years learning experience and we’ve never stopped.

‘We read Nosh recipe books together, watch food programmes by Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, talk about what Lexie’s had to eat today and what we’ll be cooking tonight or need to put on the shopping list.’