How did you learn to cook? 🍴 Teacher / school / self-taught, etc?

#1

I never had a formal cooking lesson or teacher (other than @maria - she’s great!). I remember in my Grade 7 Home Economics class the only thing I learned to make was “honey :honey_pot: butter”. This consisted of equal parts honey and butter, mixed and microwaved. Lol. I seriously didn’t have anything else I could make until nearly a decade later, as a young adult.

I’ve spent the last few years working on Mealime and thus cooking / experimenting with lots of new recipes and methods. I wouldn’t call myself a good cook, but I’m much more comfortable in the kitchen than I used to be.

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#2

I still haven’t! :stuck_out_tongue: OK… I’m starting to pick up some tricks from using Mealime. I’m still kinda helpless in the kitchen, though. To be honest, I don’t really even want to learn to cook. I just want to eat good food!

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#3

A lot of people in my family love to cook; my dad, my grandmother, but when I became a vegetarian in high school my family threw their hands in the air and told me I was on my own. I turned to cookbooks like the Moosewood and Niki and Dave’s Whole Foods Cookbook and started learning from them. When I was 21 I scored a job at an organic vegetarian restaurant in Copenhagen called Morgenstedet. The chef I worked along side had her PhD in food science and was being headhunted by Kraft and Nestle but her passion was in health not in making preservatives. So she worked in this incredibly underpaid job, making incredibly delicious food, and generously sharing a lot of her knowledge with me.

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#4

That’s such an interesting story, thanks for sharing @cat! It must have been quite the experience cooking beside someone so knowledgable! :nerd: :book:

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#5

Ive been taught at a very young age by my grnadmother to cook. I dont feel i can cook very well but the times i do cook im told im a good cook. If i am i owe it all to my grandma.

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#6

You’re very lucky! Hopefully you’ll be able to pass on some of her lessons to your friends and family!

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#8

It wasn’t until I had someone I wanted to feed that I actually started learning to cook when I was almost 30. Food Network and Rachael Ray’s Everyday were my first study guides. Pinterest has been my primary source for recipes. It was thrilling when I finally was able to make things without following recipes at each step. Perhaps it’s the passion that I put into learning bc I love it so much, but I’ve become the “go to” for both sides of the family for lots of recipes and tips.

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#9

My mother always cooked so I learned to cook at a young age by watching her in the kitchen. She made a lot of basic meals so throwing something together without a recipe doesn’t come totally natural all though I do try and usually succeed. I’m always amazed by how my husband came just start throwing stuff in a pan with no idea what he’s making until it’s done. :joy:

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