🎙️ Dining With Donna Podcast: Interview with Renée Rentmeester, Creator and Executive Producer, The Cooking Without Looking TV Show | Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA https://donnajodhan.com/dwd-01-08-2026/
On this Episode of Dining with Donna, Donna Jodhan sits down with Renée Rentmeester, the creator and executive producer of The Cooking Without Looking TV Show, for a lively conversation about food, accessibility, and changing how the world understands blindness. Renée shares her path from an early start in television to a long media career and entrepreneurial work, then explains what moved her to create a show that highlights blind and visually impaired cooks as capable, creative, and completely "everyday," without pity or stereotypes. Together, Donna and Renée talk about building a welcoming space where guests can be honest about vision loss while keeping the tone upbeat, practical, and empowering.
The episode also delivers plenty of real-world kitchen takeaways for blind and visually impaired listeners. Renée and Donna explore sensory cooking, relying on smell, texture, thickness, and feel, along with tools, hacks, and strategies that boost confidence and safety in the kitchen. Renée explains why Cooking Without Looking embraces authenticity (including the occasional on-air mistake), how the show's virtual era expanded its reach, and what she hopes comes next as the program continues to grow across platforms.
TRANSCRIPT
Podcast Commentator: Greetings. Donna J. Jodhan invites you to draw culinary inspiration from her podcast, Dining with Donna. Here, Donna serves up approachable step by step recipes, kitchen hacks, and meal themes. From quick weeknight dinners to comfort food classics and healthy meal prep with tips for cooking without relying on sight using sound, touch, aroma and smart tools. You'll build confidence, cook safely, and enjoy every bite. You can expect budget friendly ideas, seasonal specials, and the occasional guest chef. If this makes you hungry, grab your apron, subscribe and let's get cooking! One delicious, accessible meal at a time. Now let's dive in to today's episode.
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode. I am Donna Jodhan, a lifelong disability advocate and one who sees the world mainly through sound, touch, and a stubborn optimism. I am a law graduate, accessibility consultant, author, lifelong barrier buster who also happens to be blind. You may know me from a few headline moments, as in November 2010, I won the Landmark Charter case that forced the Canadian government to make its websites accessible to every Canadian, not just to sighted ones. And in June of 2019, I co-led the Accessible Canada Act with more than two dozen disability groups to turn equal access into federal law, and most recently, on June the 3rd, 2022, I was greatly humbled by Her Late Majesty's Platinum Jubilee Award for tireless commitment to removing barriers. When I'm not in a courtroom or a committee room or a pottery studio, you'll find me coaching kids with vision loss, producing audio mysteries, or helping tech companies to make their gadgets talk back in plain language. Everything I do circles one goal to turn accessibility from an afterthought into everyday practice. I invite you to think of this show as our shared workbench where policy meets lived experience and lived experience sparks fresh ideas. Now, before we jump into today's conversation, let me shine a spotlight on today's guest, a changemaker whose work is every bit as remarkable as the world that we are trying to treat. Renee Rentmeester, I'd like to welcome you to my Remarkable World commentary, and I'm very honored and privileged to have you be part of it.
Renee Rentmeester: Well, thank you, Donna, I'm honored and privileged to be with you today. Thank you so much for having me.
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: I can't wait to get started because I'd like to know a lot more about you. So, Renee, for listeners meeting you for the first time, how would you describe your personal journey from your early years in television and journalism to becoming the creator and executive producer of the Cooking Without Looking TV show.
Renee Rentmeester: Well, okay, I guess we should sit back and relax here for a moment. Go for it. No, no, I'm just joking. It's it's a long story. It started when I was like, 17, and I wanted to be in TV and be a reporter and all that sort of stuff, and I did that. I got out of high school early and I would go half days and I'd work in a TV station in town, professional TV station. And, you know, I think no matter where we come from, we all know that once you have your foot in the door, no matter what you're doing that's a plus, because if they know you, they're probably willing to hire you along the way?
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Right.
Renee Rentmeester: So. So that did happen. I had some interesting stories along the way. I I was working as, like, an intern there, an unpaid intern, and then I got to be a receptionist, which I was paid. And then I got to be an assistant in the newsroom.
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Oh.
Renee Rentmeester: So then I I ended up being a reporter at a TV radio station. I'm. I'm from. I was born and raised in green Bay, Wisconsin, so I I got to be a reporter and a an editor over in Eau Claire, Wisconsin during college professional station. And then after that, I worked in Miami for 13 years for CBS. I did everything, you know, I was everything from the janitor to the general manager, and I, I was press and public relations manager. I was an advertising and PR copywriter. I was news assignment editor associate news producer, pretty much everything, you know. And then I decided to I decided to leave after 13 years, because I just thought I could do more on my own. You know, sometimes there's only so far you can go when you're working for someone else. So I started my own advertising and media relations company. And then I thought, well, I was always sitting on boards of non-profits because, you know, they get they get free advertising if you're sitting on their board. Right?
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Right.
Renee Rentmeester: So I I, I wanted to leave, like, a legacy. I wanted to do something different from everyone else. So I thought of blindness, and I just thought, well, you know, I don't know any blind people. That's what I thought to myself. I don't know any blind people. And it seems to me that there's this whole group of people that sort of is shoved off to the side in a manner of speaking. Like, you know, so many people don't know blind people. And I think that our thinking was still like somewhere in the 1940s or 1950s. And so my background in TV, I thought, well, you know, if you show blind people doing everyday things and just being people and not doing anything from any different from anyone else, just in a different manner, you know, this will this will, like help people who are blind gain employment and people will get to know them. And they wouldn't feel awkward around a person who's blind. And so I did. I, I was I ended up developing cooking without looking one piece at a time. I, I met a chef who was blind, and he was a professor of blind professor over at Florida International University, which is a school of hospitality. And so then I I talked to some of my friends. I was on the board of National Academy of Arts and Sciences, and, and one of them was a program director at one of the local TV stations, a PBS station.
Renee Rentmeester: And so I I talked to him and he thought it was a great idea, but I had to get some money to, like, raise money to do the pilot. So then I did the pilot and we ended up it was it was a funny story because he he loved loved the show or the idea of the show so much, but he was afraid of what his general manager would say because he said, well, I think he would be worried that people would feel sad seeing blind people. I go, you know me, I go, I don't do anything for sadness. I it's all about having fun, you know you know, we have a funny we have a funny thought, I guess, about people who are blind or anyone with any sort of a disability, even I it hit me, like I said. Well, cooking without looking, I go, does that offend you? Like is that too silly or something. And he said, no I like it. Okay. So he he snuck the show on the air. The general manager of course caught it and he loved it. And he became like our biggest cheerleader. He would help walk people into the studio over the cords and such. So then after a while, after several years there was a recession and we had a hard time getting sponsors and we had to pay for our production.
Renee Rentmeester: So what we did was we went to we went to many food festivals in South Florida, and we showed and people were just like, freak out. They get so excited to watch. Like, there were groups and groups of people. You would have thought that this was some kind of a circus or something. And they loved it and they were mesmerized. They were just mesmerized and you know, it was it was just really nice to see. And then we did a lot of those. And I still have one of the hosts, one of the hosts that we've had for like 25 years is still with us. And then we had one for 24 and she just left for personal reasons. But so we have a new person. But she had been with us for a while. Kind of like on the sidelines. And when the pandemic came, she said to me, well, why don't you use zoom? And I go, okay, well, let's do that. So her name is Sylvia Stinson Perez. And the other host is Alan Preston. And so I started using zoom, and, you know, it opened up the whole world literally and figuratively, because we were reaching people from around the world. I could have never done that because it's like, that's not in our budget at all. So that's pretty much how we came this far. And in 2018, I started the podcast as well. Wow.
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: I don't know what to say. You you're very open about the fact that you are not blind yourself. No I'm not. Yeah. So what first drew you to blindness advocacy. And what convinced you that this was the cause that you wanted to dedicate your platform to?
Renee Rentmeester: Well, you know it's just basic humanity for me. You know, I'm a person who believes that I, you know, we talk about inclusion and everything, and sometimes people, you know, that just flies over people's heads. So, yeah, I said that life is a party, and I'm inviting everyone to the party. You know, no one's going to be left out. I, I started off by doing the research for blind children, but then I figured after the research, most, most people are not born blind in the United States or most of the world. So then I thought, well, you know, macular degeneration with the baby boomers and everything, but so that's that's how we did that. That's how I started to focus on just anyone. And, you know, the stereotype is normally that blindness is usually older people. But as I look at all of our shows and podcasts, most of them are very young people. Yes, we've even had children on. And so it's just for me, it's just basic humanity. I can't stand to see a whole group of people being left out. I can't stand one person being left out. I'm like, when I was a little girl on the playground, I if I saw someone just sitting by themselves, I'd always go get them and see if we could play together or sit and talk or something because I just, I don't like. It's so sad to me to see someone just be left out. So that's how I chose it.
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Now, when you were researching online communities in the early days, okay, you noticed how often blind people were talking about cooking. What? What did you see in those conversations that told you, quote. This never needs to become a show.
Renee Rentmeester: Well you know, everyone was just talking about cooking and their tips and how they would do things, and then they'd ask questions of another blind person. And I thought it was perfect because it's sort of a fun way to tackle a difficult subject. You know, if I were to sit down and just do a community affairs show, like from my old station, you know, that's a little that's a little bit of a snore, you know?
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yeah.
Renee Rentmeester: But, you know, this is sort of like when you come to my kitchen and we can sit and talk and we cook and we talk about all sorts of things, and, you know, about life and about the blindness and, and we make it very free for people to talk about their blindness. And so that, you know, we can all understand it. So that's that's how I did that. It was very engaging. And it's also you know, afterwards, you know, sometimes you think of something and then afterwards you keep adding on to it the reason you did it. Well, also, cooking is something we all need to do. I mean, like we need to eat. So definitely if you want to eat, you know, you need to cook. And my father always used to say, well, you know what? If you can read a cookbook or, you know, you can find a recipe, you can cook, you know, it's, you know, we don't have to be like, any competition here. We're not any, any sort of chef on TV. I like the term home chef. I saw that somewhere. I thought, yeah, I like this, but but most of the people and many of the people actually, that we have are actually professional blind chefs or actually professional chefs who happen to be blind.
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Okay, okay.
Renee Rentmeester: Yeah, yeah. So that's we just like to, to take out these stereotypes, you know, one at a time and, and just keep them out of there because no one learns and no one learns. If you just keep those stereotypes in it, it blocks the humanity of each of us.
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: I'm not a professional chef, but I love to cook, I love to eat. And I just think that what you're doing is awesome. Absolutely awesome.
Renee Rentmeester: Thank you. Donna. Thank you. And you can you can be on our show. We'd love to have you.
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: I'd love to be there. So take me back to the first major step finding a blind chef in Miami and filming a pilot for P persons with gist who are blind. What were the first biggest challenges and the biggest surprises when you tried to bring this concept to life on camera?
Renee Rentmeester: Okay, well, starting with I was I was going to talk to my friends and colleagues on the National Academy of the blind, and I knew one of the gentlemen had glaucoma. Right. So when I told him about it, he goes, oh, no, that'll never work. I'm like.
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: No.
Renee Rentmeester: You know what, Donna? If you tell me that something will never work, you better believe I'm going to make it work. So, yeah, I don't get I don't get turned away too often, you know? I just keep working. So then we To find that blind chef was actually sort of serendipitous because I I was living in a building in Miami on the Bay and the Bay in Miami, and one of the young men who also lived there happened to be going to the School of Hospitality. And so we were, you know, we were all getting together one night and I asked him and I said, do you know a blind chef? He goes, yeah. And he named the professor right away. And I said, oh, wow, I'd love to talk with him. So I just, you know, working in news, you get used to like just calling people out of the blue. I know you, you you do that too, I'm sure. And it's like he called out of the blue. You act like you know them forever. And and. Hey, I'd love to talk to you. I've got this idea. And it turned out that he had always liked to do something like that, too. So he he gave me the first donation for the production. Okay, but you know what? We had our first meeting on nine over 11 on 2001.
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Oh my God.
Renee Rentmeester: Yeah. And and it was just a weird thing because we all, like, got up and we started watching, watching the planes hit the buildings.
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yes, yes.
Renee Rentmeester: And to see everyone's reaction was just like, that was wild. I think one man thought he was watching a movie and he started laughing.
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: And.
Renee Rentmeester: And they were just like odd things going on. But after that. So I had the first bunch of money. Then he, he told me about another man who actually, to this day still owns a store with accessible equipment. And so he, he gave me another one and then an ophthalmologist who sort of thinks outside of the box, which is pretty much what I needed at that point. He he has some special he specializes in macular degeneration. And he's created this these glasses that help you look through your macula. You know, sometimes your macula is wrecked, so pieces of it are still good. So he teaches you how to look out of the good part of your macula.
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Wow.
Renee Rentmeester: So with those three, I found I found a someone to shoot the show, which wasn't extremely hard for me because since I was working in that business in Miami, you know who's good, who's not, you know, and and who would be who would be fair? So we shot it. And then that's when after we shot it. Okay. So it got to the end of the shooting, right? We had a live studio audience. We were in a fancy fancy appliance store, which the appliances were, like thousands of dollars, you know, the fanciest ones. You know, you could barbecue whatever you want, do whatever you want. And he. So what this chef did was he had macular degeneration. So what happened was he went to reach for a white cloth. A white cloth to wipe his hands. Yeah, he actually stuck his hand in a bowl of whipped cream. Right. Oh.
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Okay.
Renee Rentmeester: So then. So then you know, everyone laughs and I keep things in. And sometimes there were shows that I, I actually just had one little section like the bloopers because people love that, you know.
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yeah.
Renee Rentmeester: And and so then as I was walking out of the room, this little old lady, she was like in her 70s and she said, well, actually, I'm not that far away from that. But at the time, she seemed older to me. And she she said, she goes, you know, I started going blind about six months ago.
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Oh, no.
Renee Rentmeester: Yeah, and I haven't been in the kitchen since. Because she was afraid. Yeah. And then she said. But, you know, seeing that professional chef make a mistake, she goes, that gave me all the courage to get back in the kitchen again. That's good. And that's when I knew that. Yeah, this this really did have some sort of a purpose, because, you know, it takes the fear away. I think that's the biggest thing people need to get over is the fear of doing it all over again.
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: It is. It is now. Your mission is often described as changing the way we see blindness. Okay. What does that mean to you today? And how do you keep that mission front and center in every episode? Tell me.
Renee Rentmeester: Oh, that's a good question. Well, it's always a constant thought. Like I mentioned before, it's a constant thought that I, I'm always shying away from the stereotypes. Yes. And and people always when I say what we do, they'll always say, oh, so you teach blind people?
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: No, no.
Renee Rentmeester: People teach us.
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yeah.
Renee Rentmeester: And and I guess changing the way we see blindness is sort of my clever, semi clever little way of showing the world what real blind people's lives are like without all the stereotypes and and all the old thoughts stuck in there. And so people have these thoughts like, oh, you know, blind people are this or blind people are that, or blind people can do this and blind people can't do that. And so I just want to change the way that we, we can say, perceive blindness. But then that wasn't as cute as the other way, so I left it. But that's that's basically it just, you know, let people understand what a real blind person is like, which isn't really a whole lot different from what any of us are like. It's just that our challenges are different.
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: I just think the world of this, I just think, I don't know what to say. I'm just blown apart here. Oh.
Renee Rentmeester: Oh thank you Donna, thanks a lot. You know, sometimes you get you get like a little wrapped in your head and you think, oh, no one's going to care. You know, why do I keep doing this? But then something good happens. Like, you ask to talk to me, and they're like, yeah, sure, I'll do it.
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Well, as a blind host myself, I'm always thinking about what makes cooking instruction truly accessible. What were your earliest decisions about format so that the, you know, the show wouldn't just be about blind cooks, but would also be usable and empowering for blind viewers.
Renee Rentmeester: Right. So what? I always make it a point to say is that people always want to say that we're a show for blind people, but no, we're a show featuring people who are blind. Wow. Yeah, I twist that up a little, and I just I think that I always always make sure that people describe exactly what they're doing because it's like. It's like a audio description, but it's sort of like a an easy version of it. Like you tell us what you're doing and so it widens the audience. I always make it so that it's not for blind people, it's for everyone. I use some of our own tips all the time. I've. I've been amazed at some of the great tips I found out I love. I love the thought that like, you know, your stuff is done when you can smell it. Like that was like, wow, that was a mind blower to me. I used it all the time. Or how to cut an onion or an apple, you know, you cut it in half and most of it seems like really common sense. But if you get used to doing something an old fashioned way, sometimes the common sense just goes out the window, right?
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yeah.
Renee Rentmeester: So basically I just make sure that people describe exactly what they're doing. We usually start off by talking about your journey with blindness and, you know, it opens it up to, you know, so they feel comfortable talking about their blindness. Somebody described us as a safe place to be that they, you know, they always like to be with us because it's a safe place. You know, they don't feel like any that they have to do something special or be something special. They can just be themselves. And so that's, that's what I'm proud of. When someone told me that who's been on the show a couple of times, I go, oh that's, that's really nice. We've also been described as friendly and fun. And that's what I do when we start off, we get on, we get online a little early, like, well, a lot early 30 minutes. And just so that we can kind of talk to each other and laugh and, you know, all these things just to relax a little because sometimes these things can just get so stiff. And I understand that most people have never been on TV or doing these presentations in their life. And and so, you know, I like to make them relax. And I tell them, you know, it's only TV and no one's going to die here today. So I just I just like having people have fun and, and and feeling like they have a stage to stand on for themselves.
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: You know, that is absolutely true. Having fun is the important thing in life. You know, it's not all about the bad news that you hear every day. It's about, you know, we we are here on earth to do something special. And I think for you, it's something very special. It's it's great. You know I don't know what to say. I'm just blown out of my shoes here. Now, the show is known for describing steps in detail and reading recipes aloud. Right. How do you coach guests and hosts to communicate in a way that respects blind audiences and doesn't rely on? Watch this or you can see this. How do you do that?
Renee Rentmeester: Well, you know, everybody on the show is blind or visually impaired. Even the two hosts, Alan Preston and still Sylvia Stinson Perez. They're both blind as well. Okay. And so. But I write a script, so I write a script in 36 point because they have a little bit of sight left. Sylvia's got retinitis pigmentosa and has had something from birth as well. And so they have he doesn't have color perception. But so they, they, they go off of a script, but it's a loosely written script so that they can put their own thoughts and words into. It's almost like a glorified outline and the I always tell the people who are presenting the recipe to remember to describe everything you're doing, you know, because even if you're excited, excited or blind, you know, like, oftentimes I don't just sit in front of the TV and look at it. Yes, I would drive myself up the wall if I did that, but I just think that it's a matter of just telling them I don't really have to coach a lot. Sometimes if I detect that someone's a little nervous, I'll joke around with them. I'll say something to tease them or something. But No, it's just a matter of remembering that we're all human, right? If we sit and we just stop on blindness or on sightedness, you know, you've lost us. You've lost everybody. But if you if you just work on the human side of it and and you come off fine, I don't really have to do a lot of coaching. I've never. I have a I have a rule that I don't edit the show because. Yeah, if I, if I edit the show, people will think, oh, she just took the mistakes out.
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yeah, yeah.
Renee Rentmeester: And I don't ever show except because I make mistakes every once in a while. Right? And I edit my mistake. And it's usually like clicking the start off and I'll forget to hit the record. So I'll, I'll edit a mistake of mine out. But no, the everything else just goes on as it is.
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Ain't that amazing? And you admit it.
Renee Rentmeester: Oh, yeah. Yeah. You know, we're all human, right? It's funny, because Sylvia will. The last couple of times. I don't know why, but I forgot to start the start it. I mean, start the record part of it, right? I think sometimes I get caught up in talking to people and whatever's going on, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then. And she's like, Renee. I'm like, oh, I forgot. So then we just start over again. But it's not. It's usually like only like a sentence in and it's because now, see, this is a blind tip. She notices that she doesn't hear the little click for the record.
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Right. Right, right. Okay, now I love sensory cooking, listening, feeling, smelling and touching. Cuz. Right, right beyond sight. How does cooking without looking intentionally teach sensory techniques? And what are a few of these examples that really changed how people cook?
Renee Rentmeester: Well, you know, we'll talk about whether something is thickening or, you know, like, like I mentioned before, how something smells that, you know, when it's done, you know, it smells, which is like that was that was cataclysmic for me. Also, let's see what else. Usually we'll talk about what it smells like and how something is and, and I know that one of the things off the top of my head was a couple of shows ago. We had a man who had gone totally blind about ten years ago, and he was making meatloaf, and he was showing us how the meatloaf should feel and and how it should you know. Yeah. How thick it should be if it just he picks up a glop and it just glops in a certain manner.
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Oh, okay.
Renee Rentmeester: And and so he showed us that I know, and people just have their own way of of whatever they're showing us. There was a lady who made a pumpkin roll and a pumpkin roll. She was teaching us because, like, that one was frightening for me because I can't even imagine to do that. Because I could just see me breaking that cake all along the way.
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Right. Yeah.
Renee Rentmeester: And and she was saying, well, you have to have it hot. You just take it right out of the oven and you start rolling and it's like, wow, that was another cataclysmic thought. And and so she said to keep it hot and you know, the stirring. You want to talk about the thickness of everything, how the thickness feels. Because, you know. Oh, in hamburger, you know, a lot of people wonder how to do the hamburger. And basically you take. I'm I'm always very simple. You can take, like a wooden spoon and you can feel the difference between the cooked and the uncooked hamburger.
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yeah.
Renee Rentmeester: And there was another one that they, they wanted to figure out if a roast was done or not. So he he took a oh, my God, a big butcher knife, sliced it. This was this was our that first chef, right. He took a big butcher knife, sliced a little bit out of it, and then touched the knife to his tongue, which I don't recommend.
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: No.
Renee Rentmeester: And just to see if it was cold or not. It's still cool, you know.
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Okay, okay.
Renee Rentmeester: But, you know, I'm not going to do that one. And and let's see what there have been a whole bunch of them, but it's just each show is different depending on on, you know, what they're making. We had a chef Rick on last month, and he was making like, sort of like a Puerto Rican pinchos the shish kebabs.
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Right?
Renee Rentmeester: He's from the Bronx. So he he called it the Bronx. Shish kebab, something like that. And he was going along telling us how it was smelling in the house and everything. Yeah, that that just sounded so good. You know, certain spices. You don't even have to. If someone tells you that it smells like that, you don't even have to be in that same kitchen. You can just understand it at any rate. So that's basically it. You know, it just depends on the recipe. And if you're you know, what you're doing with it stirring, cutting, smelling. You know we just talk about those. And I leave it up to the the person who's doing the presenting. I pretty much let them I don't tell them how to do things. You know, the only thing we do is in the very beginning, like where to stand and how to have the light and whatever, but it's it's all up to them and, and all of the presentations have been great. Like I say, I haven't edited any out at all. It's just it's just them.
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: You might have to edit mine if I ever appeared on no.
Renee Rentmeester: No, no. But like I always say, we like to keep it authentic, you know, because we all make mistakes. In fact, I teach a little class it's called Blind United Interest Group, and the organization is Blind United. I'm on the board of that in Los Angeles, and and I cook. In fact, I did this this week. Tuesday. And I always bring up the mistakes I make because sometimes people will think, well, you know, I make this mistake. It's because I'm blind. It's like, no, I make mistakes too.
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yeah, we all make mistakes.
Renee Rentmeester: Yeah, sometimes. But the mistake sometimes for a person who's blind or with another disability, they think that that's the stone or the mountain that they can't climb. And it's like, no, you just got to get over it. And. And I'll tell people. Substitutes. I think substitutes are a great thing because, you know, if you're blind, you just can't dash out to your car and hit the store and go and buy something. So even for me, I love substitutes. Today I have made a recipe. I made crab cakes and yeah, I didn't have time. And so I went online to see what a substitute would be. And they had dill and they had Basil. I'm like, okay, well I've got both of those, so I'll use one of those. I ended up using dill.
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: You know, I learned to cook like I was born with little or no vision. And I learned to cook with my granny and my mom. Then I got a whole whack of vision through a cornea transplant, and mom continued to coach me, but on the phone because I left home when I was pretty young. So we kept in touch all the time, and she coached me on the phone. And then I lost the vision about 15 years ago. So I've gone through different stages of learning to cook and adapt and things like that. But You have featured adaptive tools like talking thermometers, barcode readers, and Braille markings on stove dials. Okay. In your view, which tools have been the biggest game changers for independence in the kitchen and why?
Renee Rentmeester: You know what? I think that the modern one is the air fryer.
Renee Rentmeester: Yeah. Blind people who are blind and love to cook have been getting air fryers in all over the place. We've had like 2 or 3 shows with air fryers on because it goes real fast. You can't burn your. Well, I guess you could try to burn yourself. You don't really burn yourself. And you know, a lot of people who are blind have some health issues. So. Yeah, it's it's good for that way. You know, it's a little healthier. So I see it as that. Not even the the bump dots, little dots on there, the high marks. I think that's that air fryer is probably the most popular right now.
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Really?
Renee Rentmeester: Yeah. Yeah, I would say so. Yes. And we've had talking microwaves. We've got a whole show with a talking microwave and a where also where you use the, the bar code and it sets the time. And so that was pretty cool because he would just tell Alexa and Alexa would set the time on it from the bar code. And that's probably one of our most popular shows. There are so many things. And, you know, I like to also focus on the simple because sometimes we don't all have the funds to go run out and get some special things, you know? So I like to keep things simple and sometimes even just a fork to mix things up works really, really well. And and it doesn't take a lot of cleanup after that. Let's see, we, we when I'm online, a lot of times I'll see people that have an issue. And one of our biggest issues the last week was how to separate an egg.
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Oh, yes. Tell me.
Renee Rentmeester: Well, there are there are little things that you can get on Amazon and the blind kitchen, that's a that's another group that. Oh, yeah. She was actually on our show. We did a, we did a competition blind versus sighted, and we, we the her, her actually, her cooking professor actually blindfolded himself, and he did it.
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Okay. Okay.
Renee Rentmeester: So anyway, she she has a lot of equipment like that, and she had a pie cutter, which was amazing. Which is another one of those, like, you know what? I don't care if I'm blind or sighted. I would love that, too, because I'm not necessarily the best pie cutter. I don't know if anyone is, but it's actually like a circle and put the circle and then each the little triangles are already built in there, and it's made out of like, I think it's stainless steel. I'm not certain, but it looks like that. And you can just put that down on your pie and it cuts it automatically because of the stainless steel.
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Oh.
Renee Rentmeester: Okay.
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: What about the the the talking toaster oven? Have you featured that at all?
Renee Rentmeester: I don't I don't remember specifically the talking toaster oven, but I do love these appliances that talk.
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yeah.
Renee Rentmeester: I think that's so cool. And the price has come down on a lot of them. You know, in the first, when we first got started, like 25 years ago, they were like over $300. And now I think you can go to Best Buy for not a lot of money. Probably like I haven't looked recently, but the last time I looked it was like around $80, which is like a huge jump. It's probably even less now, so.
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: I guess there are a lot of talking appliances out there that you could probably lose yourself with. I mean, I would. I love gadgets, so I often get into trouble by buying something I really shouldn't be buying. But you know, they're fun. They're fun. You know? And I think like when my nephews and nieces see these things, they say, but Auntie Donna, you know, why do these things talk? I want to borrow this. Oh, God. Please, no. Put it down. You know. No.
Renee Rentmeester: Well, it is sort of fun. And, you know, excited people can use them to, you know, just it just depends on what you need them for. And a lot of times you get you're doing 2 or 3 different things at once and you realize, wow, I forgot to do this. And and your little talking machine will tell you. Hello.
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Come on You got Alexa?
Renee Rentmeester: Yeah, yeah. So those are. Those are great. Let's see what else I don't I don't really can't really think of other things off the top of my head. I like the little tricks that we do sometimes with things. Oh, you know, what's good is slow cookers, crockpot slash slow.
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Cookers. Yes. Yeah. The instapot.
Renee Rentmeester: Yeah. And instapot too. They, they have a instapot are amazing. And they're huge with people who are blind. I think they had business wise. They had a problem there for a while. I had someone call me out of the blue about the instapot, like years ago. And then I think they they reworked their business. So now I think they're still around. They are still around. But those are amazing. You do so many things with that.
Renee Rentmeester: You can even make yogurt or bagels. Anything you want.
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: I got one, but I have to confess, I've never used it. It was given to me as a gift, but I've never used it.
Renee Rentmeester: Oh, well, you know, to be honest with you. Once that person called me about the instapot, I. It started off in Canada. The instapot.
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Okay.
Renee Rentmeester: And And when she called me, I'm like, well, I gotta find out about this. So I went online and I started looking through the directions, and the directions just seemed like there's, like, everything all over the place. Like it just lost my my train of thought. I couldn't keep my train of thought over because, like, oh my God, look at this, look at this, look at this, you know, and it just too many directions, I guess, is what I'm saying. In college I took a course in technical writing and.
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Oh, yes, I just.
Renee Rentmeester: I just noticed that this was like, this needed someone who needed technical writing experience because it was just too many words. You know, if you get too many words, you don't want to follow instructions at all.
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: No, no you don't.
Renee Rentmeester: So I don't blame you for not using it because I probably wouldn't have used it either.
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Well my clock is winding down but I have a final question for you. And it's this where do you see yourself going from here on in. You've done so many things, so many unique things, so many exciting and brilliant things. What's next for Renee?
Renee Rentmeester: Well, I've been trying to get on a streaming service like one of the big streaming services.
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yeah.
Renee Rentmeester: We're on we're on YouTube, which it has been taking over. Even just the regular broadcast stations.
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Right.
Renee Rentmeester: But just to get on a regular streaming service that's out there. You know, I'd like to do that. I'd like to do that and really widen the audience and increase the audience more. And which is really just spreading the word even more. More than just numbers in an audience. Just to spread the word, spread the understanding.
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: When it has been a pleasure, pure pleasure having you on my podcast. And I'd like to invite you back at any time you want to come on again, talk to me, talk to our viewers, not viewers or listeners about anything. Please do not hesitate.
Renee Rentmeester: Oh thank you, Donna, I've had a good time, too. We've got to get you on the show and on our podcast as well. That would be fun.
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Anytime you just let me know. And you know, I'd love to work with you to in any way, shape or form. You think I can help?
Renee Rentmeester: Oh, thank you so much. Would you like our website?
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Yes. Go ahead, give it to us.
Renee Rentmeester: Okay. It's w w w dot cooking without looking tv.wordpress.com, and it's a long one. So if you want to just Google the cooking without looking TV show, it'll it'll bring it up. We have a free recipes and free kitchen hacks Monday through Friday.
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Terrific. So I look forward to working with you in some way, shape or form in the future. I, I want to thank you for having brought all this fun to blind and vision where people around the world keep it up.
Renee Rentmeester: Oh, thank you so much. Thank you for having me.
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: You're very welcome. And you take care.
Renee Rentmeester: You too. Donna. Bye bye.
Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Bye. Bye now. Bye.
Podcast Commentator: Thank you so much for listening. That's a wrap for this episode of dining with Donna. Donna wants to hear from you. What did you cook? What worked and what would you like to learn next? Share your favorite accessible kitchen tips. Send in a recipe request or tell us the kitchen challenge you like Donna to tackle on an upcoming episode. And if today's show helped you feel more confident cooking without relying on sight, please share it with a friend and leave a review. Your support helps more listeners find their way into the kitchen. Until next time, keep it simple, keep it safe, and keep it delicious.
