How To Start Your Own Cook Club!

If you’ve never been to a cook club, but want to start one, you may be wondering what they’re all about. Basic cook clubs consist of a group of friends who get together to enjoy different dishes they cook themselves. When thinking of how many people to invite to a cook club, ask yourself how many friends can comfortably fit around a table (and think ‘cosy’ rather than ‘formal’).

Members of a cook club usually take it in turns to host the meeting. The host chooses the dishes that will be presented, decides on who will cook what, and sends out the recipes. (It’s good etiquette to send out these details a couple of weeks in advance, so everyone has time to shop for the ingredients they need, especially if they’re a little difficult to find.)

Many cook clubs stick to this basic plan, but there’s even more fun to be had when a group injects creative ideas into their meetings. To whet your appetite, why not try some of the following ideas:

Childhood favourites

Ask each member to create a favourite recipe from their childhood (to get the balance right on the night, the host should indicate which members are to cook a savoury dish, and which are to create a favourite sweet). Ask each member to introduce their dish by recounting at which family occasion they most remember it being served.

International night

As a group, decide on a cuisine you want to explore (try to go out of your comfort zones by choosing a cuisine that’s not very familiar to any of the members). The host can then choose recipes that will provide a 3-4 course meal, and allocate one to each member to cook.

Festive themes

Throughout the year, base some of your meetings around festive themes such as Easter, Christmas, Matariki, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Valentines Day, New Year, and Nowruz. Cook dishes that reflect an international variety of celebrations, not only those we are familiar with in New Zealand.

Cook book night

Ask each member to bring along a favourite recipe book, and a favourite dish they’ve cooked from it. The books should be introduced, with the member saying where the book came from, and why they like it so much. It’s a good idea to bring along some ex library book plates in case people want to borrow the cook books from each other.

Cheap challenge

Designate a budget, and ask each member to cook a dish that does not exceed it (set one budget for savoury dishes and one for sweet dishes). Ask members to explain what was the greatest challenge in cooking a dish within the chosen budget.

Ration recipes

Some of the most creative recipes were written to meet the demands of rationing during World Wars I and II. Head to Google (or your local library) to find some of them, then allocate them to your members to cook.

Common ingredient

Choose a common ingredient and ask members to create dishes that focus on it. Choose one ingredient for savoury dishes and another for sweet dishes.

The great bake off

Host a ‘cakes only’ meeting. The host can send out recipes for a variety of cakes, or stick to a common theme (such as only chocolate or fruit cakes).

Dietary requirements

Dietary requirements are an interesting focus for cook clubs. Try bringing along dishes that focus on one particular requirement, such as: ‘vegan’, vegetarian, or ‘gluten-free’. Or go international with a nistisimo (fasting) theme.

With dozens of different ways to approach cooking meet-ups, cook clubs can be simultaneously enjoyable, educational, and delicious! Tempted to start a cook club? Why not head over to our discussion forum and see if there are some fellow GrownUp members near you!