Blind culinary arts student impresses instructors at Manatee institute

If she doesn’t know what it is, she sniffs it.

Or feels it.

Or tastes it. Culinary arts student Gabrielle Lozano is blind, so she cooks with her other senses.

This summer, the 20-year-old is slated to graduate from Manatee Technical Institute in Bradenton and enter the work force — as a chef.

“People ask me all the time, ‘How is it possible that she cooks?’ ” said her mother Pam Lozano. “They ask, ‘Does she have some sight?’ I tell them no. She is completely blind, reads Braille and uses a cane to get around.”

Her daughter was born with little sight and, at age 3, lost all of it from a brain tumor on her optic nerve.

“Since she’s been about 8 or 9, she started helping me with dinner and just loved it,” her mother said.

Continue reading . . .

Subscribe to our RSS feed!