Lesson No. 1 on Celia Chacon's television cooking show — use what you have, find substitutes for what you don't.

Except this food TV host isn't just talking ingredients. She's teaching viewers to use touch, smell and sound instead of sight. That's because her viewers are mostly listeners. Like Chacon, most are blind or visually impaired.

But after two seasons on public television, "Cooking Without Looking" — the nation's first television cooking show catering to those with vision loss — faces an uncertain future after funding shortfalls put the next season on hold.

Budget cuts at Florida's Division of Blind Services have left the program scrambling for new sponsors, but show creator and executive producer Ren'ee Rentmeester remains upbeat.

"When you're doing something that's new and innovative, that's just part of the game," she says.

Longtime NPR television critic David Bianculli calls "Cooking Without Looking" groundbreaking, saying he's never seen a television program so specifically tailored to those with vision loss.

"If television is supposed to save us, not through broadcasting but through narrowcasting, this is exactly what they're talking about it," he says. "Focusing on such a narrowly targeted group and servicing them is a good thing."

Rentmeester came up with the idea for the show after a decade in television journalism, during which she did community outreach with nonprofits on behalf of the Miami CBS affiliate for which she worked.

The experience left Rentmeester — who isn't visually impaired — wanting to launch an organization to help people across a broad demographic range. Blindness fit.

And while perusing Web communities run by the visually impaired, she noticed that the most popular discussion threads were about cooking. "That would be a cool idea for a TV show," Rentmeester recalled thinking.

Combining blindness, cooking and television might seem an unlikely formula, but Rentmeester says the medium works because of its broad accessibility and popularity, even with people who are completely blind.

When Rentmeester brought up the idea with members of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, "my fellow TV people sort of looked at me with a weird slant," she says. "They kept telling me, 'No, no, no. This can't be done.'"

"Cooking Without Looking" has the typical food show fixings — theme music, a nodding and smiling audience, commercials from sponsors, even Rachael Ray-like tips about microwaving lemons to get the most juice out of them.

But while Ray may blitz through her recipes, the show's three hosts and rotating lineup of guest cooks — all with some level of vision loss — have more practiced, deliberate moves in the kitchen.

Take the preparation of tostadas featured last season. Chacon carefully feels her ingredients as she dices them, then arranges them in the order she'll use them. At the stove, she listens to the sizzle to make sure the heat is right.

To help the audience follow the featured recipes, steps are narrated and often come with blindness-specific tips or techniques, such as listening for bubbles popping to know the yeast is working, or putting dark ingredients on light-colored plates because the contrast makes them easier to see for those who are partially sighted.

And at the end of each segment, the recipe is shown on the screen and read aloud.

Obviously, safety is a common theme on the program. Hosts frequently remind viewers to take precautions when cooking, chiming in unison: "And remember, safety first."

"There is a certain element of danger to it," particularly when it comes to using knives and burners, Chris Danielsen, a spokesman for the National Federation of the Blind.

But the show encourages people to overcome that, and know they aren't condemned to a life of microwave dinners.

"People see blind people, they think they're incapable. It shows we can do just as well in a kitchen as anyone else can," says Gary Metzler, a Port St. Lucie resident who has been in the audience for several of the show's tapings. "We just have to do things a little bit different."

For the show's guest cooks, that means making recipes from memory, since reading a teleprompter isn't an option.

Rentmeester thinks demand for blind-targeted shows and gadgetry will only grow as Baby Boomers age and the nation sees a spike in the number of people with vision loss.

"We were that generation that learned a lot through TV," she says.

"There is definitely, definitely, definitely a niche."