This article was written for Annabel & Grace, which is now part of Rest Less.
My husband now says that you are never too old to learn to cook because he has just been on a cookery course (aged 74 yrs) at the Good Housekeeping Institute and loved it.
Hasn’t life changed? I can’t remember my father cooking anything other than a boiled egg and a cup of tea and that’s only when he had to i.e. no-one else was around to do it. However nowadays, in this new equal opportunities world that we live in, men are enjoying cooking. The words, ‘shall I cook supper?’ by my husband are music to my ears having spent 30 years cooking 98% of the family meals. However he is keen but not skilled!
So when our daughters bought a cookery lesson for their father and youngest brother I wondered how this would go. He was very enthusiastic on Christmas Day when he was given the gift but I thought that might just be the exuberance of the day helped by generous amounts of alcohol.
The day dawned – a cold Friday in January and my husband arranged to meet our youngest son at the venue in the heart of Soho. 30 years ago if my husband had said he was going to spend a Friday afternoon with our son in Soho I would have wondered what they were getting up to. Another thing that has changed over the years.
It was a vegetarian cooking course as our youngest has been vegetarian for some time. Again I thought this might not appeal to my husband as he is definitely a meat and two veg man. However he has embraced vegetarianism with the odd foray into the meat menu, when son is not looking. I would call him more of a flexitarian.
It turned out that it was only the two of them being tutored by Cher (not sure of the spelling of his name.) Students prepare and make recipes under the direction of a tutor i.e. this is a hands-on, personalised experience. Classes are limited to a maximum of 10 students. However they were very lucky and so were able to work individually which brought out the competitive streak in each of them!
The results were really rather good. I know because they brought it all home and we had a family dinner to try it out.
There were Meatless Meatballs (RECIPE HERE), Veggie Thai Green Curry and Beetroot and Bulgur Wheat Salad. The Meatless Meatballs were so good that it was hard to tell they had no meat in them.
I have to tell you that I was blown away by their enthusiasm and skills after two hours of Cher’s tutelage. They both got a lot out of it and enjoyed the afternoon enormously. However it was helped by the fact that all the shopping had been done and all the ingredients measured out for them so they just had to do the chopping, cooking and mixing. It won’t be like that at home I told them.
Whether you’re a kitchen novice keen to learn the basics or an experienced home cook who’d like to extend your repertoire, there is definitely a course for you. I am thinking of booking to go on the Knife Skills course as I would love to be able to wield a kitchen knife like those professional chefs without losing a finger.
So you really are never to old to learn to cook!
Listen to Annabel and Ed chatting about food in our latest podcast: You’re Never Too Old To… Learn To Cook
For more info on The Good Housekeeping Institute Cookery School click HERE.