What got you started cooking?

[corazon]

For me, Saturday mornings were not dedicated to cartoons. I used to wake up early on Saturday to watch Jaques Pepin's cooking show.

I think a lot of us probably learned from our parents or grandparents. I learned from my dad and still call him up for cooking advice when I need it. He's a great cook.

 

[pdswife]

I think I always liked cooking...but, it was something that I had to do. Mom worked and it was just the two of us so if I wanted dinner durning the week, I had to make it.
Just soup and sandwiches or easy things like Mac and Cheese from the blue box.
Then I had David and well, he needed to eat so I started trying to copy the things mom made on the weekends... spagetti, pork chops in mushroom sauce and tuna fish and noodles. Again easy and not to exciting.

Then I met Paul and every one knows "the way to a man's heart
is through his tummy" Paul was in no way impressed with the meals I fed him.
In fact as I've told you all before he told his mom that he'd have to do all the cooking because I just couldn't cook!

I didn't like that and set out to prove him wrong. I've done it!!! I'm a pretty good cook now. At least I'm a heck of a lot better than I was. Both he and his mom now admit that I'm a better cook than either of them. It sure was nice hearing that the
first time! The better I get the more I enjoy it. I've still got tons and tons to learn and look forward to every lesson.

One of the reasons I like this site so much is that all of you are so happy to share and so willing to answer all my questions, even though some of them seem so silly.

Thanks!!

 

[The Z]

My mother was never what one would call a 'good cook'. She managed to live until the ripe old age of 19 before she got married and THEN learned to cook. Originally, her definition of cooking included healthy portions of Chef Boyardee and the various Shake-n-Bake and Whatever-Helper (well, you get the idea). Unfortunately, she did all the cooking. That was until she was stricken with Rheumatic Fever.

Dad did what he could in the kitchen, but my memory of that time was an egg-stravaganza. Scrambled eggs, fried eggs, omelets (nothing very egg-citing, but he was pretty creative). I was pretty young at the time, but I began to look at cooking differently. I was able to see the creativity of it and began to see it as more than a chore that just moms took care of.

Mom was quite ill for months, but she eventually did recover. She'll turn 70 years old next month and she enjoys generally very good health.

 

[GB]

I used to help mom in the kitchen occasionally, but that never really sparked my love of cooking.
I started watching cooking shows on TV. Then I met my future wife. Well all of a sudden I had someone to cook for. She did not know how to cook much so I told her I would do all the cooking. It became a hobby that I quickly fell in love with.

 

[The Z]

I started watching cooking shows on TV.

I was also inspired by TV cooks. Intially it was Jeff Smith, The Frugel Gourmet' on PBS (way before we had cable). He had a very nice approach to food that I found compelling and inspiring. And I liked how he ended all of his shows with "I bid you peace".

 

[GB]

I am blanking out on the name of the chef on one of the first cooking shows I really got into. He had a show back in the 70's I think where he cooked very fattening foods. He came back years later to cook healthier versions of his old meals. Also in that time he admitted he was an alcoholic so he made a point of buying de-alcohalized wine in any dish that called for wine. Someone help me out with his name. It is gonna drive me crazy


Ahhh I just remembered his name. Grahm Kerr (sp?)

 

[msalper]

When I saw my dad cooking something I realized that I can try to cook. And one day I cooked rice without saying my parents anything, secretly... So my first try was successful and they were surprised. Ofcourse it is an easy meal but I was 12 years old. So I have started to cook one another and etc. It was very nice to cook and nice to see the hungry eyes and hear very nice words after full satisfaction.
Now I try more complicated meals. And I STILL LOVE IT, COOKING.

 

[Bangbang]

I was hungry and was able to see the top of the stove if I stood on a chair. The first thing I did was cook up some canned ravioli. My mom helped get me started.

 

[Ishbel]

Both Grannies and my Mum and her sisters were all great cooks. Good food was part of growing up - and watching any of them cook was a favourite pastime... and being able to help (my Mum wasn't too keen on younger 'helpers') granny S or Grandma S was the highlight of a visit to either home!

My Dad's mum was a highlander. She cooked wonderful food. Her scones were the best I've ever tasted - all cooked on a girdle (yep, a flat, iron circle with a hooped handle that sat directly on the fire!) She then graduated to an Aga... The smell of a wonderful beef or venison stew or pie coming to greet you when you came in from sledging on the hills behind her home...

 

[kadesma]

My great grand parents came from France, moved into the wilds of California in no mans land, they had 11 kids and grew there own poultry, veggies, made wine,bread, did it all. No stores just their own hands..My grnadmother being one of the oldest girls had many chores amoung them the cooking..She learned a wonderful chicken stew cooked with wine that we had about once a month and I loved it..The chicken just fell off the bone..Well my first introduction to cooking was to come home from school, walk in and smell that wonderful smell. Well I canged clothes and went out to feed the chickens and my pet duck...Low and behold, lots of chicken, but NO DUCK...Must have run away I was told...We sit down to dinner and I get to looking at that chicken stew, Hummmm didn't look like chicken to me...Yep, she'd decided the duck was dinner..I of course threw a hissy fit and got sent to my room with out duck stew...Have not cooked or eaten duck since!!!! But, I learned from grandparents, my grandfather on mom's side knew lots of Italian people and learned the in's and out's from them...Hence my first taste of Italian, Grandma, dad's side besides the duck stew made wonderful pasties..When I married, I knew I had to get moving as my m-i-l could really cook pasta, ravioli, tortas, and each dish was mouth watering..So, I cornered her and said SHOW ME Then I discovered PBS, Jacques, Julia, Frugal Gormet, Lidia,I was in heaven and still am to this day..Now of course, I love coming here and seeing all that each of you share everyday..I love it.

kadesma

 

[Constance]

Children, children...you make me feel so old!

We didn't even HAVE a TV until I was in first grade, and then, we were among the first in town. There was only one staion available at first, and sometimesit didn't come in so well. The big deal for the men was watching "Wrestling at the Chaise" on Saturday night, or, for women, watching Liberace on Sunday Afternoon.

I got my love of cooking from helping my grandma in the kitchen. She was quite a gourmet cook for her time, and was always glad to have me in her kitchen "helping".
My mother wasn't fond of general cooking, but she loved to bake for special occasions, and I helped her make pies, fancy cakes, and lots of cookies. Her decorated cookies looked like little toys.

My cooking badge was one of the first I got in the Girl Scouts, and by the time I was in high school, I was taking it seriously. My grandma and I spent some special times together while she taught me basic skills that got me off to a good start: how to make a white sauce...how to sear a roast...how to make a custard...and much more.

Not only do I love to cook, I love to entertain...another thing I got from grandma. Nothing makes me happier than to stand back and watch the people I love eating, drinking and laughing.

 

[middie]

kadesma... they cooked the duck ??????????
i'm sorry

 

[htc]

Moving out on my own in college. I loved to try new things and use my roomies as guinea pigs.

 

[kadesma]

kadesma... they cooked the duck ??????????
i'm sorry

Yep, she cooked my duck.../she tried to tell me it ran away...I was young but, I knew my grandmother, everything had a use and if it didn't produce, it got eaten or used in some way...
kadesma,

 

[middie]

okay... but the duck ???? the duck was a pet !!
my uncle did that with all the chickens he had too.
even the one everyone was partial too. i called him
a meanie and wouldn't talk to him for 5 minutes while
i cried on my aunt's shoulder. and i loved my uncle so
going 5 minutes without talking to him was alot. i think
i was 4 at the time. 5 at the most.

 

[luvs]

i loved cooking from the time i was like 6 or 7 and and used to make kid-friendly recipes and was asking for cookbooks as soon as i could read. i was allowed to make anything i wanted as i hit my pre-teen years. i always used to watch 'great chefs' and those sorts of shows and looked very forward to them.
so glad i stumbled upon cooking. now i'm going to have a career in it.

 

[kadesma]

okay... but the duck ???? the duck was a pet !!
my uncle did that with all the chickens he had too.
even the one everyone was partial too. i called him
a meanie and wouldn't talk to him for 5 minutes while
i cried on my aunt's shoulder. and i loved my uncle so
going 5 minutes without talking to him was alot. i think
i was 4 at the time. 5 at the most.

I was about 6 when this happen to me, I can imagine how upset you were..Kids feel things a lot more than we realize. Cade was here one night and a rather large plane sailed over the hose and I made the remark about how close the plane was. The nest day his mom said he woke crying thinking the plane would come back and hit Ma's house!!! Poor little guy.
kadesma
And yes the duck was my pet, it followed me all over the place and would get up in my lap when we had breakfast out in the backyard, to eat the bread crusts...

 

[middie]

awwwww kadesma that poor little guy

 

[buckytom]

what got me started cooking was - eating. i have always loved food. my mother and my friends' mom's were all very good cooks when i was growing up. my best friends were different nationalities (italian, german/jewish, chinese), so i was exposed to lots of great stuff to eat.
after eating a ton of take out - chinese food and pizza in college, i decided to learn how to cook when i got my first apartment. i started out copying some things that my mom used to make, and started watching cooking shows on tv to learn some techniques. also, i started working in nyc at the ripe old age of 21, and loved to eat out in the myriad of restaurants here. as i became a better basic cook, i started trying to copy some of the fancier or more difficult things that i'd had in the restaurants.
i still love to eat out as often as possible (hey, they're the professional chefs for a reason. and there's no clean up ), but i also like to cook, more often homestyle than fancy, if given the time.

 

[corazon]

I remember taking a children's cake decorating class at the Community College when I was in Elemetary school. We also had some children's cookbooks. My 2 year old likes to help me "measure" out the flour and stuff. He ends up making a huge mess and I never know how much flour actually went it.