I was 31 years old when I found myself alone after my wife left me. I knew nothing about cooking, and nearly made myself sick just eating the bare minimum to get by. I lost weight (I didn’t have much to spare to begin with), and friends started commenting about how skinny I looked. It was then that I realized I needed to take charge and learn how to feed myself without anybody else’s help, in a way that was enjoyable and healthy.
It was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made, hands down. This February it will be 6 years, and, while I’ve still got a ton to learn (who doesn’t?), I can hammer out tasty and healthy meals for myself or a group of guests on any day of the week, with or without a recipe, with or without meat.
I think anybody can do it, but I will say that it REALLY helps if you view it as less of a chore and more of a hobby. If you find the craft interesting, then even if you don’t know a thing, you’re at an immediate advantage.
If you can swing it, strongly consider picking up some basic tools: a decent chef’s knife, a nice cutting board of decent size, a skillet… things that you may not even realize you’re missing if you’ve never used them.
Different people have different ways they prefer to learn, but I started by watching cooking shows, then just started cooking meals from scratch several nights a week to accumulate experience. There were lots of missteps and screw-ups, but that’s how you learn. The most general advice I can offer is, whenever you make something that is really good, try to understand what it is about the recipe that made it good. Was it a combination of flavors? Was it a technique you applied? This way you learn “concepts” that can be carried over into other situations, rather than being a “blank slate” every time you walk into the kitchen.