Cooking for Blokes

When it comes to home cooking, it's a long-held truism in Australia that the average female is superior to the typical bloke. But now someone has finally done something to address this culinary imbalance.

Four years ago Peter Weste started Cooking for Blokes, targeting men with little or no cooking skills. His innovative business idea took off, and now Peter oversees up to 10 cookery classes a week from his North Sydney CBD premises.

Although originally aimed at adult men, classes now commonly include a contingent of female cooking enthusiasts as well as the occasional teenager.

When Cooking for Blokes began many of the participants were men who finally decided it's about time they learned how to cook because they're now retired, divorced or they've simply grown weary of their wives or partners bemoaning their lack of cooking skills", said Peter.

"But now we're seeing a lot of parents turning up along with their teenage or young-adult kids. Parents see Cooking for Blokes as a way to bond with their offspring in an enjoyable environment while giving their kids the opportunity to learn something they can apply to everyday life."

According to Peter, Cooking for Blokes has been successful largely because it recognises that many people don't have basic knife skills.

"The vast majority of Sydney's amateur cooking courses assume that participants have at least an elementary understanding of food and how to prepare it, but this is simply not the case", said Peter. "As a consequence a lot of people find themselves embarrassed and out of their depth at an amateur cooking class, no matter how rudimentary course leaders may regard their classes to be.

"With Cooking for Blokes, course participants learn such basics as, for example, how to quickly and properly dice an onion, deseed a tomato and poach an egg, and we build from there. Put simply, our courses are designed to turn even the most inexperienced cook into someone who can confidently produce a wide variety of impressive, delicious and healthy meals."

Cooking for Blokes' hands-on courses are held on weekday nights and weekends. The typical course is comprised of six weekly classes, with each class offering a different culinary learning experience. During weekdays the focus is on the corporate market, which is becoming increasingly interested in what Cooking for Blokes has to offer.

"Company executives are frequently on the lookout for original and effective team-building activities which promote employee co-operation, improve staff morale and reward work performance", said Peter.

"Cooking for Blokes offers all of this with fun and practical classes that are designed exclusively for this market. This equally applies to business owners and managers who want to offer their clients an afternoon with a difference.

"The feedback we have so far received from our corporate clients is superb. What we have found is that executives often struggle to find an out-of-office, weather-proof team-building activity that suits all staff members.

From humble beginnings to what is now a thriving business, Cooking for Blokes keeps going from strength to strength.

Just as it's often been said that 'Everybody talks about the weather but nobody does anything about it', it's also probably been said that 'Most men can't cook, but no-one does anything about it.' Now someone has.

For more information on Cooking for Blokes visit www.cookingforblokes.com.au