ANSWERS: 80
  • My dad, he learned in Thailand and is pretty good my mom can only make things that require microwaving.
  • Mostly myself. I've been a vegetarian for about 25 years, and had to learn to fend for myself early on. At least I enjoy cooking. And yes, I am a huge fan of the Food Network.
  • My cooking ability is based on vague ideas of what constitutes no longer making you sick if you eat it. Like when the big mess of eggs is looking brown in some places and black in others and theres no liquid left.
  • Julia Childs via PBS. My mom was so, so but she encouraged me to watch the French Chef and then mom gave me free reign (pretty much) in the kitchen. I keep updated with Rachel Ray, Emeril, Paula, etc. on the Food Network.
  • Trial and Error - they showed up every time I cooked - lol
  • Le Cordon Bleu Paris. Learned the basic skills, the rest is my creativity.
  • Myself mostly. My mother in law is a great cook. She can cook anything. My skills are limited to something that comes out of a box and has a few easy to follow directions.
  • mom... happy mothers day!
  • My Mom. Christmas eve we would make like 20 different cookies and home make bread.
  • My husband! My mother would not teach me anything. When I married, I knew how to open a tin and cook under a grill. Oh, and pan fried sandwiches.
  • My Mom taught me the fundamentals, and then I worked in food service industry for 6 years... then I did lots of reading... learned LOTS... I'm pretty damned good (he said with great humility...)
  • Mainly books. I had learned nearly nothing at home. My mother wanted me to concentrate on school. As I started to live alone, I had lunch at a refectory, but I started to cook things using cookbooks, especially on the weekends. After a time, I made some experiments. And sometimes, I cooked together with friends and learned some new tricks.
  • My mum was a bad cook and she tried to teach me...now im a bad cook.
  • My parents. I most picked up cooking skills from watching them cook. I like experimenting too, it is fun and you actually like what you make, well, that's me of course.
  • im good at cooking but im rubbish at baking. i think i learned bits off my mum and dad but i basically had to learn myself because i moved out as soon as i could so i had to learn pretty fast.
  • My mother was a crap cook she never taught me anything and im an even crapper cook than her.
  • TV!!!!
  • I love cooking and baking and everything else that goes in the kitchen. When i was younger my moter never let us cook or bake (safety reasons etc) but i really wanted to. I always had a massive love for food, huge! At the age of 18 i can cook almost anything u name, roast beef, chicken, fish etc etc Can bake chocolate cake. My cooking must be good because went i do cook the kitchen fills up to the brim and the food i make cleans the plates. See, now am hungry!
  • My mom taught me how to cook, but baking I just picked up on my own. I'm good at cooking, but I'm better at baking.
  • I am an excellent cook. My Mom began teaching me at age 4. She would pull a chair up to the stove and I would make white cream gravy every night for supper. I know that is not very safe, but she would always watch me close. Back in those days, we never really thought about flammable clothes and such. I was very lucky. But, my Mom is a great cook, and she passed it down to me.
  • My mom was a good cook and I started very early. I watched her cook and we used to watch James Beard and Julia Child on tv, then the Galloping Gourmet, and more. I read about it, watched others, tv everywhere. My mom would let me practice and cook all sorts of things. I would cook for parties and friends. I'm just a cooking and baking fool. My husband and I love to cook together. He doesn't bake much. I'm the baker in the family. We cook for a lot of the family, too. It's our hobby I guess. Built our home around our kitchen. We are serious about cooking :-)
  • My mother was the one who taught me how to cook and bake. I learned just by watching her do it. Even though I am a boy, I still cook and bake. I do it very well.
  • Boy Scouts taught me the basics of outdoor cooking. I picked up a few things from Mom and friends, but mostly self taught with some cookbook help. I make a killer Pumpkin Cake.
  • I am a really good cook now, but it took twenty years of practice. I'm mostly self-taught. My mom can't cook and never has had the desire to do so. But, she likes doing laundry, and I hate doing that!
  • The cook that my father employed when I was a kid, I am a great cook if I do say so myself :)
  • For the most part my mom, and yes I am pretty good at it.
  • my mom & sister taught me and yes I'm good at it
  • My mom and grandma, with a crash course from a few cookbooks when I got married! I'm decent at cooking and good at baking. I just wish I had more ideas for what to cook!
  • I observed my parents cooking but no one taught me how to do it per se. I can make a burrito that is phenominal as well as just about any pasta dish that I whip up. My greatest gift is my creativity. It works just as well here with words as it does in the kitchen. I seem to conjure recipes from mere entropy. Whenever I go to visit my dear grandmother I make sure that I cook my patented turkey burritos for her. Odd or logically enough I hat to watch cooking shows. I would love to swat Rachel Ray with a skillet because she is so annoying. I'd be sued and 5 years later I would be released from prison. Seems like I veered off course.
  • I learned from watching my mother cook and reading cookbooks. I judge myself as a moderately skilled cook. I feel confident enough to invite friends for dinner sometimes. I am a single male who lives alone six months a year. The other six months, I cook for my daughter and her family. I try to do as much cooking as possible on the outdoor grill--last night was mako shark.
  • Essentially I taught myself out of necessity when I married my wife and her two kids (mine now and quite proud of them both). My wife worked full time and I worked shifts so I was often home before everyone else. I started out with easy things and as my skill and confidence improved I explored new techniques and recipes. I'm pretty good now (ahem, if I do say so myself) and I absolutely love to cook. If I had it to do all over again I would have sought a career as a professional chef! I've learned how to do laundry and dishes and vacuum and all sorts of other handy things over the years too! Thanks for asking.
  • my mum taught me but I am a terrible cook, if all meals were down to me, I would starve. My boyfriends mum is a fantastic cook and has taught him loads. He is also a fantastic cook so luckily we eat well.
  • i had to learn myself as my mum left me when i was young. Wasn't all bad though, i may never have learned about food else :)
  • only women should be cooking.Go Men Go!
  • Myself, trial and error. Now I can say I'm a awesome cook.
  • No one. (That means I never learned, and do not cook.)
  • My mother started me cooking and let me try different things. She would gladly pay for all sorts of ingredients for me to 'play' with and I also learned from many books and other cooks. I watched James Beard and Julia Child in the early days. I haven't stopped learning and will continue to learn each day:-)
  • Many many sources. I learned a large part from my step father, from my mother, and a small part from my family. Besides that it's been trial and error.
  • My mom showed me some stuff when I was young, but the biggest help was an old high school textbook I found in the garage before I moved out called "food preparations". I learned the rules of cooking and what temps and times to bake at. That and living single for years forced me to learn. If you can find a copy of "Meta Given's Modern Encyclopedia of Cooking" you will be blessed with information on how to cook anything you can imagine, including Holiday cookies, Beaten candies, Sweet sauces, Fruit pies, puff pastries, Candy, Vegetable preparation, Salad dressings, Chowders and soups, Coolers & fruit drinks, Fancy rolls, Buns and donuts, Special breads, Cakes & tortes, Cobblers and gelatin desserts, Ices and sherbets, Fish and baked dishes, Preserves & pickles, Greens, Quick Meals, How to cook Meat & fowl. Plus it's a homemakers handbook full of cooking how-tos and helpful hints.
  • I've tried to learn on my own, and I sucked at it! I will never try again.
  • Me too my grandma raised me and she didn't want me in the kitchen. I taught myself and I hear i"m not bad..
  • Yes I can cook (I think) it has been a very long time since I tried ,I hate cooking. I am not really sure how I learned by watching or being in the kitchen when others were cooking .
  • Learned at an early age, and when I was 12 or so, when many kids are selling drinks by the side of the road, I was baking banana nut bread with my family's recipe, packaging them, and selling them in one of my father's stores. I probably made just about as much money as those stand operators, but obviously, I could bake and cook. ;-)
  • My mother made us girls cook all the time. Hated it then...hate it now. My husband, who loves to cook thank God, does all the cooking. Every once in a great while I'll put something together but since the kids are gone I eat when I get hungry because Bob gets home late.
  • i mostly taught myself to be considered a real man in texas you need to be able to smoke a brisquet
  • Yeah, I pretty much taught myself.
  • My mother was a bad cook and i cringe at the stuff i had to eat so im pleased to say she didnt teach me a thing,saying that i cant cook either and my poor long suffering husband has ended up my taste tester....and i havnt killed him yet just a few upset tummies:-)
  • I grew up helping my Mom in the kitchen. Always enjoyed it. I also married a woman that cannot cook for many reasons. So I do all of the cooking. Works for us nicely.
  • i learned some of the basics when i worked at burger king growing up and for the rest i taught myself
  • i started cooking at 10 when mom had to go back to work. she'd show me the recipe and i'd read through it to make sure i understood everything and i'd make dinner when i got home from school. i still love to cook
  • I sort of had to learn to cook when I was about 14. My parents got divorced and my dad was for lack of a better word, incompitent. I not only had to learn how to cook but how to do laundry and clean house. I'm not saying that this was a bad thing because it has certainly been beneficial as I have gotten older and married. After high school I went into the United States Coast Guard. At first I was dead set on attending "food service A school"(known in the civilian world as "culinary school"). I actually attended the food service school for about 2 months before having a change of career direction to become a boarding team member. So the answer to your question is yes, I learned how to cook, and I kind of had to teach myself.
  • I do most of the cooking and have cooked since I was about 11 or 12. I like to eat good things so I learned on my own to cook.My Mom just gave me a cookbook and said to go for it. The first thing I made was 1000 island dressing since we had none left and I wanted some.
  • My mom thought I was dangerous in the kitchen because I was such a klutz. Once on my own, I taught myself and now I enjoy it and love trying new things.
  • I actually didnt start cooking until about 26 or 27. My mother did everything for us and My sisters and I did absolutely nothing. Spoil kids. I taught myself how to cook. Not to bad after a couple of years of messing up.
  • I never knew how to cook. One day our favourite Thai restaurant just disappeared (I think they went back to Thailand). Thai food was not common in those days and I remember thinking.."if you ever want food like this again you had better learn to make it yourself"...so that got me started....Now I cook a lot.
  • I learnt how to cook at school, and i did baking with my mother every weekend or i did it with my granny, but mostly learnt at school or self taught, i love to bake and still have all the old recipes my mum gave me when i was about 10
  • Good luck with your learning. Cooking is the absolute pits, in my opinion, so I never wanted to learn. My mum showed me how to burn toast and I've managed well with that knowledge :)
  • I wanted to learn from my mother. I procrastinated and so I did not learn anything from her because she had passed away June this year.
  • My mother, my grandmother, my home ec teacher and myself. I did a lot of experimenting with cookbooks. I particularly like the Better Homes and Gardens Heritage Cookbook, which is out of print but you can still get used copies through Amazon. It has a wide variety of traditional recipes from each historical period in America and from each major ethnic group that had come by the time the book was published in 1975. It gives you a really wide variety to experiment with, and because they are traditional recipes and not restaurant recipes or fusion recipes, they are usually pretty simple to make.
  • A combination of my Gram, my Mom and alot of trial and error (heavy on the error).
  • my boss kenny marini and the head cook where i work travis miller
  • My mom and TV chef Graham Kerr. [minus the 'short slurps']
  • my mom is a great cook. what she taught me was to improvise and throw in random stuff just to see if it might taste good :)
  • No one. I just started cooking, following recipes & just things of my own also. +5
  • my grandma.
  • I learned the basics when I was young from my mom and grandmother. Later on in school, I took a couple of cooking classes, and I also watched a lot of cooking shows and bought a lot of cookbooks and experimented on my own. I enjoy cooking, and like trying new recipes.
  • My Nan taught me how to bake, I learned how to cook through books/tv, and perhaps most influentially, I have worked in a few restaurants and occasionally (when I nagged enough) I would be allowed to go into the kitchen and do some cooking here and there.
  • my mother
  • The Swedish Chef
  • The great apes of the dark jungle. Care for a piece of banana pie?
  • What little I know was taught by my mother or by trial-and-error.
  • My mom did most of the cooking. She is a great cook! +5
  • Self taught. My mom is not good at teaching people how to do stuff.
  • my mom and the cook book.
  • Mother Father a nutritionist a Chinese Herbologist a friend who is a chef
  • Good question...mostly my Mother...by just observing and remembering and then I learned through trial and error myself...I used to call my mother a lot after I wasn't living at home anymore and ask her stuff a lot. Too bad she's not alive anymore...I'd still have questions. She was a good cook. I've recently been taking cooking classes in Ny and enjoying them +6
  • My granddad, mom, and sisters. I love cooking. and I don't really mind doing the dishes. it's so gratifying. haha.
  • My mother tried hard to teach me but I never listened. So I ended up teaching myself and now I love to cook!
  • A little bit my mom, a little bit my mom in law, and a lot - recipe books and websites.
  • My mother taught me the basics - but I went beyond her skill by reading and experimenting.I read cook-books for enjoyment.

Copyright 2023, Wired Ivy, LLC

Answerbag | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy