Cooking therapy (Cuisine Thérapie)

Domain VIII · Creative & expressive arts therapies · Emmanuelle Turquet · 2015

What it is

A workshop method, mostly for groups but also for individuals. Participants cook without a recipe, improvising a dish around a given ingredient and theme. Then they present and taste the dishes and talk about what they felt while cooking and what the dish expresses. Turquet, a former salesperson…

Format

• No published phase model is identified. The sources describe a session sequence and the course lengths on offer.
• Formats.

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Other formats from a certified practitioner: one-off workshops, individual sessions, courses of 3 or 8 sessions, online sessions, children's sessions, and on-site sessions for institutions and companies.
• Version followed: Cuisine Thérapie as reported for Emmanuelle Turquet's own group workshops (the "Papilles créatives" / "Creative Tastebuds" workshops, launched in 2015), plus the formats offered by a practitioner who reports a year's training and certification and has offered sessions since April 2024. No book, manual, training organisation or certifying body is identified. The citation "Turquet, 2015" fits the…
• What it is. A workshop method, mostly for groups but also for individuals. Participants cook without a recipe, improvising a dish around a given ingredient and theme. Then they present and taste the dishes and talk about what they felt while cooking and what the dish expresses. Turquet, a former salesperson ("ex-commerciale") who left a job at GDF Suez, trained in art therapy, personal development and cooking. She…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Does it involve fasting, a special diet or 'detox'? Have you discussed this with your doctor?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• the same eating-disorder and swallowing cautions as 4.4.
• metaphors imposed by the therapist; let the client choose or reject them.
• pressure to take part in group or work settings. Make sure opting out is real.
• participants performing for the observer. Say plainly that you're watching the process, not judging the food.
• strong emotion while cooking (tears, agitation). Quietly check in, offer a pause, and turn heat off before any one-to-one conversation.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.