Men's Cooking Classes Attracting Baby Boomers

NORIGOE Takane

April 2007 will be the time when baby boomers begin to retire. People are now interested in how they will live their lives when they will have so much time to spare. Against this background, men's cooking classes are beginning to catch the attention of many men. Over the last few years, the number of people attending cooking classes has been increasing. "Better Home," an incorporated foundation, holds cooking classes for men, and in 199l there were only 350 participants, but by 2006 the number had reached 6,720.

In Japan, it is standard among couples of the baby boomer generation for the men to work outside the home and women to do the housework as full-time housewives. It is also an unwritten rule that men should not go into kitchen. Approximately 78% of cooking class participants said they had almost never cooked before they began cooking lessons, but the percentage of those who still do not cook even after taking cooking lessons dropped to 15.7%. Regarding their motives for attending cooking classes, 61.7% said that they would have a large amount of free time after retirement.

Mr. NORIGOE Takane, a former executive of Canon Marketing Japan Inc., began attending a cooking class in Machida, Tokyo, after he retired in 2006, and now one year later, he can cook basic dishes. "His dishes are more delicious than I expected," says his wife Reiko, shyly praising him. The dish he is most skilled at preparing is Beef Stroganoff. On weekends he invites friends and serves then his delicious dishes. His cooking is earning him a good reputation.

Mr. Norigoe explains its usefulness, saying "I can share common topics with my wife and can have more opportunities to see my friends after learning cooking." This story hints that those who attend cooking classes will come to understand how difficult it is to do the housework, and they will come to help their wives more around the home. Anyway, these days when middle-aged divorces are becoming a larger and larger issue, men's cooking may well be one of the keys to a happy married life.

Better Home Association
www.betterhome.jp/

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