The fellowship, the friends, the food -- they all drew 60 men to the Soleil Men's Cooking Club.
"We all like to eat," said Joe Dupcak, 66, formerly of Roswell.
Dupcak, like other members of the club, is a resident of Soleil at Laurel Canyon, a retirement community in Canton. The club invites chefs from across metro Atlanta to teach the skills required to create restaurant-quality meals.
Club members visit local restaurants and invite the chefs -- such as Reinhold Weger of Gasthaus Le Cafe in Cumming and Jenna Schreiber of 61 Main in Jasper -- to teach at the monthly meetings.
Cooking classes and clubs are a popular trend, said Matt South, assistant manager of Cooks Warehouse in Brookhaven. In the past 10 years, he has seen cooking classes grow, possibly because more people are eating at home, he said.
After years of leaving most of the cooking to their wives, many of the men joined the club to learn exactly what it's all about.
"Many of us were survivor cooks," said Joel Jolin, 72, formerly of Washington, D.C.
The former computer technician said most of the men could only cook breakfast when they started.
"The extent of my expertise was eggs," said Terry Caracalas, 72, formerly of Athens, Greece, and California.
The club tries to select international food for the events, which take place from February to October. Six of the events are men-only and two are open to spouses.
The club recently hosted a Middle Eastern spousal event featuring chef Nicola Ayoub from Nicola's Restuarant in Atlanta. The Lebanese chef taught members how to cook traditional food and serve it to the 86 guests. The guests were able to sample 11 different Middle Eastern dishes and were entertained by belly dancers.
The cost of the event per member and guest was $19. The founder of the club, Al Bardakjy, 68, formerly of Roswell, said the price is simply the cost of the ingredients.
"Rarely does the cost per person for the meal exceed $20," he said.
The club tries to not only find international chefs, but also chefs who can teach different techniques.
"It has always been like a big chemistry set," said David Soll, 69, formerly of Orange County, N.Y. "You get all the pieces and put it together and something new pops out."
Despite the enjoyment, there are still things that members do not like.
"I don't like the cleaning," said Tom Edmunds, 70, formerly of Orange County, Calif.
The club, which has reached its max of 60 members, receives meal requests from other Soleil organizations, said Dave Schnee, 70, formerly of Brooklyn, N.Y.
The club is always trying to improve the kitchen, recently buying an industrial dishwasher.
The members take pride in their organization.
"If you came to an event," Dupcak said, "you will almost sense that we are one big family here."
"There is a lot of diversity here," said Lamar Gilmore, 68, formerly of east Cobb. "Everyone is in the same stage of life right now. It is just neat to be around these guys."
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