A new recipe book has been printed with ink that fades over time to mimic the way people’s memories fade when they’re battling dementia.
Edinburgh-based media platform Boom Salon created the “living cookbook” in collaboration with Maggie Watson, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and Vascular Dementia in 2021.
Boom Salon founder Rachel Arthur describes Watson as her “adopted gran” and the book’s title, 4,4,4&2, comes from her sponge cake recipe, which comprises four ounces each of butter, sugar and flour, and two eggs.
The book includes recipes, photos, stories and scribbled notes, and each copy will fade in a different way, “mirroring the highly personal and unpredictable patterns of memory loss.”
“This publication is as much an act of design as it is of care,” Arthur explains. “It forces us to reframe our understanding of books as static objects, and instead positions them as temporal, evolving vessels for experience and increasing empathy and understanding of others.”
We spoke with her in more depth to find out more about the project, how it works, and why it matters so much.
What is Boom Salon set up to do, and how does this project fit into that wider vision?
Our mission always has been – and always will be – to democratise creativity for good.
We collaborate with extraordinary creative talents too often overlooked or undervalued, inspiring and empowering them to realise their own potential before sharing this with others across books, magazines, performance pieces and events.
Boom Salon’s 4,4,4&2
To date, we’ve had the privilege of working with talented individuals facing complex personal challenges including substance abuse, homelessness, forcible displacement and dementia; together, we’ve produced a range of creative outputs which reframe their narratives and reshape how they are understood by wider society.
This project fits into this mission by collaborating directly with someone living with dementia, Maggie Watson. A lifelong cook, upon diagnosis she was warned of the dangers of working in the kitchen unsupported – immediately removing one of her most creative outlets and feeding into the narrative of inability and worthlessness which our work to date has confirmed many people with dementia experience.
To rewrite this, we collaborated to create a living cookbook together – sharing Maggie’s favourite recipes from her life whilst simultaneously informing readers of the realities of the dementia journey through considered design.
Where previously there was loss and isolation, 4,4,4&2 presents possibility and connectedness again, through the medium of cooking combined with thoughtful design and storytelling.
Where did the idea for this project first come from?
As with all of our projects, a single story, told in passing.
This particular one was of a friend’s grandfather, diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in its early stages and supported to live at home. The family had medical backgrounds and visited regularly, convinced that all was well as they each witnessed him doing his daily crossword each and every day.
Assuming he was still ‘sharp,’ it came as a huge shock when he passed just six months later.
It was only then, when clearing out the family home, that stack upon stack of newspapers were found, filled with the daily crossword – and for the first time, the family looked close enough to see that the same word was repeated over and over again.
This planted the seed of the unknowns of dementia, even within medical fields, at a time when it is the leading cause of death in the UK, it felt particularly pressing to learn more and consider what role design could play in reshaping the narrative.
Boom Salon’s 4,4,4&2
What is the ink made of and what makes it fade?
The ink reacts to air and light, fading differently on each and every stock – the book contains multiple GF Smith stock.
GSM and composition further affect the change, alongside subtle tweaks we make during the printing process itself. 4,4,4&2 is designed to mimic the human brain itself, and the degeneration which can occur during the dementia journey.
In the same way that human interaction can shape this greatly for an individual, so the book is affected by its own, individual treatment.
A copy which is closed and nestled between other books on a shelf will fade wholly differently to one which is left splayed open – mirroring the effects that human interaction and care can have on a person with dementia themselves.
Some of the pages within the book can fade in less than a day; others could last for many months. You will not be able to tell by looking what to expect, just as there are no visual markers for what lies ahead in any person’s own dementia journey.
Why is it important that each copy fades in a different way?
No two people with dementia will experience the same journey; for us, the publication would have fallen flat had we taken the easy route and developed a book which simply faded, in full, in the same manner within each copy.
This narrative is vital to the publication itself and mirrors the many year’s worth of research which went into this publication, alongside the lived experience which is at the heart of all of our dementia work.
Boom Salon’s 4,4,4&2
Gerry’s story, and therefore the resulting book we made with him, is wholly different to Maggie’s; it would have been an injustice to flatten the story to anything less personalised and unique.
The family hand-me-down scrapbooks of recipes which inspired 4,4,4&2 are so very unique in themselves, as well, that there was no option of creating anything uniform.
What impact do you hope the book has on readers?
We hope it nurtures understanding and empathy of the dementia experience – with Maggie’s blessing, it is shared in a personal, truthful manner that I’ve never seen before.
Maggie was adamant that we should share the elements never normally seen – the copy and paste, clinical diagnosis letter which arrives through your door.
The handwritten diary entries which depict exactly how it feels to forget your days. What it means to have others in your life who take the time to understand.
Boom Salon’s 4,4,4&2
4,4,4&2 ends on a hopeful, poignant note: the final chapter is one of “collective recipes,” rewritten and reshared throughout a family so they will never be forgotten.
They are spoken of together, recollected over the phone and scribbled down on the back of a letter from the bank, cooked together, devoured together.
They remind us all of what people with dementia can still do, of what they can give to us as families and individuals. They encourage us to nurture each other and accept the journeys we are each on, whether one of dementia or not.
Why are creative projects like this so good at adding a new dimension to our understanding of serious issues like this?
We always say, in the kindest possible way, that our work is about using design to trick people into having the conversations they should be having – but wouldn’t otherwise.
Creative projects can draw people into these – providing a hook, whether that be an exciting disappearing ink or a perfectly executed ligature. By enjoying, appreciating and consuming them, before we know it we can be delivered a message that, if we’re lucky, might just stick.
Boom Salon’s 4,4,4&2
For us, the dream is to get a publication like 4,4,4&2 into the hands of urban planners and civic leaders who are designing the cities of tomorrow – planting the seed to design inclusively now as opposed to retrofitting and rebuilding, at great cost, in the decades to come.
It’s a tall order for a family cookbook to achieve, but if Maggie’s instilled anything in us it’s to give it a bash.
Boom Salon’s 4,4,4&2
Boom Salon’s 4,4,4&2