Man With a Pan - community cookery courses for men in Eastbourne

Picture the scene, a group of eight men aged between 25 and 82 years old working together under the tuition of a professional chef to produce a seasonal three-course meal which they will sit down and eat together. The kitchen is buzzing with laughter and conversation. Delicious smells emanate from a vast pan of paella and trays of freshly baked bread have just been taken out of the oven. This is a typical scene from one of Community Chef CIC's, award-winning Man with a Pan cookery courses for men.

Community Chef CIC was set up over 20 years ago by, Robin Van Creveld, a professional chef who wanted to use his culinary skills to help make people happier and healthier. The project has grown into a highly successful social enterprise which supports thousands of people every year.

The enterprise has several projects on the go at any one time. Robin and his team work with people experiencing food poverty, refugees and asylum seekers, people with mental health challenges, and older and vulnerable men. They also run the Lewes Community Kitchen, aThanks to funding from the National Lottery, the Man With a Pan project is now coming to Eastbourne and the first in a series of courses will run at Leaf Hall on Seaside Road from July 4.

The cookery courses are hands-on and participants learn, cook and eat together. They also take an extra meal or two home.

Van Creveld says: "I love running these courses. It's so rewarding to see men develop their confidence in the kitchen. It's also a joy to see people who may not be as active or social, as they would like, engaging in fun and rewarding activities. Over the past six years several thousand men across the Southeast have completed this course. We start with fundamental kitchen skills such as using a knife and heat control. Men learn to make simple and versatile dishes, which have a lot of variations. We also run regular reunion sessions where men from a current course produce a large meal for alumni students. Our aim is to help men to build confidence in the kitchen, as well as socialise and be active."

Community Chef CIC has won several high-profile awards for this project, including the 2019 People's Project, The National Lottery Community Hero Award and the BBC Good Neighbour Award.

The courses are free and participants can book via the Community Chef website: communitychef.org.uk/man-with-a-pan-new/For more information, contact [email protected] or call 07766526217