Cooking classes for "mature" gentlemen are taking off, proving old dogs can learn new tricks.
Concerned about her husband's ability, or inability, to feed himself, Jan Rykers wrote to Rotorua District Council suggesting they run cooking classes for older men. That was passed to Waiariki Institute of Technology and now "13 old guys", including her 81-year-old husband Bruce, are halfway through a six-session Cooking for Life course, run by cookery tutor Rosie Waller.
Mr Rykers said he had avoided learning to cook over the years saying, like many of his generation, the kitchen had always been his wife's domain.
"Most times if I wandered around the kitchen there would be a low growl and a 'get out of my kitchen'," he said.
Mr Rykers rounded up his Rotary mates and so far they've mastered white sauce, "proper" steak, butter chicken, Thai curry and rice.
The men take their meals home to show off and Mr Rykers said his wife had been amused but impressed by his efforts so far.
Widower Barney Fairley, at 90, is the oldest in the class.
"My wife always encouraged me to [cook] but I never got around to learning too much," he said. "After she died, I regretted that I didn't know a lot more."
He said he'd learned "a heck of a lot", although not enough to try it out on friends or family.
"I'm not game enough for that yet," he said.
Ms Waller said the classes were at times chaotic, but always fun.
"It's terribly rewarding. Imagine learning to cook at 90. I take my hat off to them," she said.
There are at least two other similar courses in the city, one run by University of the Third Age's Vic Reid, who started Cooking for One after his wife died.
"Everybody can cook bacon and eggs but blokes like me don't know how to marry up the herbs and things," Mr Reid said.