Wangaratta senior Jim Cozens has been married for nearly six decades, but until last year the only thing he could cook for his wife was a sausage sizzle.
"I could boil eggs and barbecue but that was about it," said the 80-year-old from Victoria. " I hadn't really cooked in my life."
But now, thanks to a men's cookery program, Jim can rustle up a fancy frittata "with all the vegetables". "I get a high distinction from my wife. You can be quite creative with it. I tried two or three different recipes including using asparagus and sweet potato."
Jim discovered his new-found culinary prowess at the Eating for Independence: Men's Cooking Program at Gateway Health in Wangaratta.
The Victorian Healthcare Association-funded program helps older men with everything from meal planning and budgeting to following recipes and learning new cooking techniques. The course goes for 10 weeks. "At the end of the session I'd bring my food home and my wife was the tester. And I only failed once," said Jim.
He said he's now got a deeper appreciation of the work that goes in to creating a meal. "I've been used to having things served up and didn't appreciate the time and effort that goes into it," he said.
Mastering mash
Norm Adam, 88, also from Wangaratta joined the course to help his wife, who has Parkinson's.
" I wanted to improve my cooking skills and dish up better, more nutritious meals. My goal was to learn new recipes," he said.
"Before I could make a pretty plain meal - nothing fancy ever. And I was always repeating the same recipes. My wife Dot says I was pretty average.
I'm also really proud that I learnt to make more interesting sauces. When I dish up sausages I no longer just make an ordinary gravy.
He said his go-to dish now is impossible fish pie (which gets the thumbs-up from his wife) and he's also mastered the art of making mashed potato.
"A lot of people would consider it a simple thing. I could never quite get mashing potatoes right. And what my teacher Chadia taught me has set me on the way. It made me think of my mother mashing potatoes using a fork to get air through the mixture.
"Another thing with the mashed potatoes was to add a little bit of butter until you get to the consistency that you need."
Breaking down barriers
Program coordinator Chadia Bastin said the main barriers to cooking are usually health-related or lack of knowledge. "Many participants are of that generation where a female partner, sibling or parent has taken care of all shopping and cooking and so they've never had to learn to cook, or not on a regular basis.
When circumstances change, their partner may have passed away, or they've had a relationship breakdown or they find themselves needing to care for the person who did all the cooking and shopping, it can put them at nutritional risk.
She said there are also physical barriers, like arthritis, which make it hard to open jars, use utensils and lift heavy pots. Back, knee or hip problem can also make it hard for people to stand at a kitchen bench for long periods of time.
"We have found another cohort of men with mental health issues who are drawn to the cooking group to learn a new hobby. These men, like most of our participants seem to really reap the benefits of the social connections they make with others," she said.
"We try to bring in a guest from the local Men's Shed and we've found that this provides some of our participants with a pathway to another social outlet once the cooking program finishes. Many participants form lasting friendships and continue catching up socially outside the group."
And have there been any disasters? "Absolutely," said Ms Bastin. "We use these to demonstrate how 'disasters' are a normal and important part of the cooking process."
She said a good example was a bread and butter pudding that was overcooked.
"It was so dried out the bread was like leather and it was burnt on top. One of the participants went home and tried the recipe himself and it was so successful he took a photo to show everyone the following session."
- Details, phone 5723 2000, gatewayhealth.org.au
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