Fortunately I can cook anyway (thanks to mom I can feed mom right!) I know that's not the case for many people. You can't just pop out for a Happy Meal if your person can't chew It. It hardly surprises me that elderly folks don't want to eat gross mush. I was considering creating a resource for that which would include basic cooking skills and recipes that helped my mom gain 10 pounds on non-gross mush. (She is now at her target weight yay!!)
I've also heard that lots of my friends parents will only eat sweets and have lost interest in "regular" food. I wanted to adress that as well with mom-tested sugar alternatives/naturally sweet healthy options. Any thoughts?
Although I haven't bought any cookbooks I've done a LOT of reading about dysphagia and diets. Many, many moons ago I went to school to learn about institutional food service and although I never worked in that environment I always have been interested. I think that making healthy, appealing altered diets at home is mostly a simple matter of adjusting the food you already enjoy eating, but that presupposes that you already can cook, and that you have a clue about what a healthy diet is. My own personal roadblock was in finding the time and energy to modify every meal, every day... unfortunately ready prepared mechanically soft and pureed foods are very limited in variety and availability.