that little oven i got when i was a kid.lol

I didn't.

i watched my mom alot and practiced.if you are interested in cooking watch cooking shows.food network has some great programming.buy yourself a begginers cookbook that could get you started with basic phrazes.

My father is an excellent chef. It runs in my blood. It takes intuition, judgement, and patience, all of which I pretend to have.

I used to watch my mum and she used to let me help her with things. Then when I got older, I'd cook the odd meal for my family. But I don't think you learn to cook properly until you start doing it day in day out, when you leave home and have to start fending for yourself.

Trial and Error. A great deal of trial. And even more errors....

Trial and Error. A great deal of trial. And even more errors....

"The Galloping Gourmet" and Julia Child on TV, cookbooks, and practice.

I do not cook and will not admit that I am able to so do

Trial, burn and improvement!

I can't really cook. I can bake though. I bake the best chocolate chip cookies, the secret is to quadrouple the amount of chocolate chips you're supposed to put in, so there is more chocolate than biscuit.

Mostly from watching my dad cook on campfires, and after I turned about 12 I cooked for myself alot because both parents were working.

i got hungery.

Helping Mom cook, starting at very young age. Cookbooks, FoodTV & friends.

i just started experimenting with cooking and adding all my own stuff into things, sometimes it didnt work out good but i had to learn pretty fast i moved out when i was 17 so i had to feed myself LOL i make a brilliant pasta though and sunday roast

My Aunty taught me.

Trial and error and try.. try again, now I'm alright at it.

What do you mean ? I am 36 and still struggling.

I watched my mother.

my momma taught me.

I learned by trying different recipes.I've had fun doing it ever since.

Nessecity, my mum was gone to work and my dad was in the middle of a very long nap, so I had to make myself dinner. (I, like a true 7 year old, decided the best thing for dinner would be French Toast, it did'nt turn out so well.)

my mum, school, books, and my mum. did i mention my mum.

Being an Executive Chef in an Italian restaurant, I learned the base of cooking and paring ingredients through training and education. But I started by not wanting to eat what my mother or grandmother made. Thay told me if I don't like it then I can make food for myself. Then I started reading and gathering recipes, and eventually became a cook, worked my ass off, went to school, worked my ass off again and became what I am now. I still work my ass off and LOVE what I do.

Foods I & II in H.S.

I didn't

the back of the mac and cheese box.

My Mom, Dad, experimenting and I took some cooking lessons.

My grandmother (passed away last year) and recently learned a lot from my good friend Mary (she's an awesome cook) I'm still in the learning stages, however =]

Growing up, we had a breakfast bar the faced the stove, where my sister and I sat every night and talked to my mom while she cooked. Plus, my mom's parents were both incredible in the kitchen and used to compete a lot cooking for family gatherings. It was always soooo much fun watching them in the kitchen teasing and egging each other on. It's no wonder my siblings and I all found a natural groove in the kitchen.

My mom only already told me how to cook eggs...

My granny....she was an awesome cook...i cant cook nearly as good as she could... but i use alot of her old recipes...

I got hungry. My mom worked three jobs. Meals weren't coming all that regularly. One day, in high school, I got hungry and had no money to get McD's. So I stumbled into the room that I understood, theoretically, food was to be prepared; cleaned some dust outta a skillet; and made my first dish ever: cheesy scrambled eggs. My mother was never much of a cook. She grew up in the convenience age, so it was always really "just like mom used to OPEN," instead of used to make. So I was a pretty mediocre cook until recently. Since I've engaged in a new committment to healthy eating, I've learned: one must learn how to COOK if one cares about what goes inside, since (in my humble opinion) one never goes into restaurant food or anybody else's food. Hence I try to be on the preparation end of most of my meals now. Toward this end: my chief "teacher" has been Alton Brown, chef of the Food Network Show "Good Eats." He is not particularly health-oriented, but he is unique amongst chefs and cooking folk, in that he teaches you THE NATURE OF FOOD! Amazing! How long it has taken for someone to come up with this idea. Such that, if you know what a muffin IS (essentially and scientifically) you are no longer bound to RECIPES. You know how to make things and/ or properly alter recipes yourself! It was a wonderful insight. I make food for myself that has caloric intake I have set for myself. I am a lawyer and don't have a lot of times sometimes, so fast food calls to me. But I try to remember: nobody really knows what's in that crap.

By watching my mom do it... And then, trial and error... I have a lot of recipee books, but rarely use them. I like more my own creations... =) I love to cook!!

I didn't...please don't tell my boyfriend :(

One burnt thing after another.

Cooking.

From a girlfriend had in high school.

My first husband taught me how to cook, since my mom was not interested in doing so...

I learned from reading recipes and trying to follow them. I definately did not learn to cook from my mother(people actually like my cooking!).

By watching and listening to my grandma, mom, dad, and some other good cooks. Beyond that? Trial and lots of error!

my grandmother taught me and after a couple of burns i got the hang of it...i got prove, the burn marks are on my arm

I learned by following the recipees to the letter, until I felt confident enough to change things a little then make-up my own variations now I rarly look at a recipee book, and I consider myself an expert candy maker, I'm also good at caseroles (caserole are great, they can make anyone look like a good cook)

From the television and a little from my parents.

My Mom taught me and then I learn through cookbooks.

Lotsa mess and burns :) but persistence pays off

trial and if i errored i got back handed down the stairs

I learned a lot by just watching and helping my mom, sister or grandma cook. But, after I moved out, I also took culinary arts classes... so I've been to school to become a professional chef. I have no experience actually being one, but it helped immensely with my own cooking skills, so now I feel that I can make anything I want to. My mind works better when I have recipes to work from, so I prefer to have a recipe, or at least general guidelines on how to do something (I'm much more of a pastry chef/baker in that regard)... but I can make anything. :)

Look in a recipe book, and take the time to read it and follow through with something that really sticks out to you. I'm not to much of cooker myself, but I'm trying to buckle myself down and follow directions from a recipe book. I find that it's actually a fun thing to do. If you stay consistance it will definetly become like a hobby to you.

well, thanks my mum, even thought i can only (barely) make eggs...

I never did

Mostly trial and error.

All self taught. Trial and error. Now I can make anything, given I have the ingredients for it. I find it relaxing.

I started as a dishwasher at a private restaurant whan I was 15, and here I am at 37, managing an applebees kitchen.

i started washing dishes and working a prep job. while there, with the help of the CIA book "the Professional Chef" i taught myself how to use a knife, basic cuts first, the the more traditional: batonet, brunoisse... After that i moved onto the hot line, and worked in three different kitchens at once. Two of them were prep jobs, and one was on the lunch line. i pulled out the book and learned basic french technique: mother sauces, saute, broiling, roasting, braising, frying...After doing this for a few years, i went to culinary school. i think culinary school is a waste of time and money, but i did learn some things there but most importantly made connections. I worked in a high-end trendy cuban joint for two years, worked some gigs on the side, and am now the tournant at philly's highest end progressive seafood house. The point i am trying to make is get a book on french cooking, even if you are not interested in french cuisine. The techniques the french imparted to the culinary world are paramount to everything else. And these techniques, for the most part, are not hard. When you read them, read about the ingredients and how the react to heat (cause you can't cook without heat!). Most of this is common sense. Go into the fanciest restaurants in your town and meet the cooks and chefs. You'll find a wide assortment of people: young kids, ex-cons, drug users and dealers, the dregs of society, myself included. So if we can do it, so can you. Practice and learn from mistakes. And stop cooking everything on high heat, it's not always necessary. People i know that try to cook always blast the heat and wind up burning everything. Lower the heat. Take your time. Enjoy what you are making. Start with simple dishes, they are usually the best anyway. Feel free to ask me any questions.

I read the side of the tin.

I cooked my first box of Macaroni and cheese when I was seven, by the age of twelve I started cooking for the whole family. I used to help my mom when she fixed dinner, I always did the dishes, and she would teach me as I helped her keep things tidy. It was no great chore to learn how to boil water. Soon I was adding tuna and hot dawgs to the mac, and experimenting on differant things I could add to it. This was the foundation of my cooking knowledge today, I know enough now that I could open up my own restaurant, and I still experiment and write my own recipies.

im still training but a tip that has helped me alot imsure it would help anyone also learning watch youtube cooking videos I learned to make some tasty dishes from there

My parents, school, the Marine Corps.

Well just to comment on some of the other people that say trial an error now that is just ridiculous to really learn how to cook you usually need a good foundation in one parent knowing how to cook some good things to inspire that love of cooking this is not necessarily true there are many cooks I am sure that just dove into cookbooks but to be truly honest one of my best resources is The Food Network not only does it give you some great ideas on what to cook but on how to cook and the cooks can bring knowlege from thier years of training to your kitchen if you are a complete amateur I would suggest alton brown becuase his dishes our simple and usually are step by step secondly you do just have to start making dishes form recipes and start tasting things but thats all the advice I have good luch

my grandmother taught me a lot. Having to cook at home as a child, my mom taught me. and I was totally fasinated as a kid with recipes. i used to collect them.

My Mom taught me starting when I was about five. Then I grew up, moved out...and had to REALLY start practicing! I THOUGHT I could cook...but still called Mom on occasion...."how do you...what temp and how long do I..." Good old Mom...I sure do miss her

i was born into a family of cooks, i mean everybody from greatgrandparents to cousins, it's learn or die in this family, but yeah i had a little help from mom but ive always been able to cook it seems

Mom was a good cook. We would cook or fix things together. I started making meals very early before I was 9. WOuld cook the family meal when I was 10-12 and through out my teens just because I found it fun. Mom and I would trade off days. I watched early cooking shows and read a lot. Stilllove to cook and have married a man that loves to cook, too. It is an everlasting journey for us, learning about new cuisines and different foods. Cooking and eating are fun for us.

Trial and error at first, then watching cooking shows and online search for recipes which I completely ignore, but use some of the techniques, I haven't scrapped a meal in years.

I learnt to cook from my mum.

JUst came to me naturally. ! day i just started cooking...experimenting on my own... no books and no help. Somehow those just turned out to be good. It just takes that 1st step to start

I Taught myself, my mom vary rarley every cooked we all way ate at restraunts or something because my mom ether didnt like to cook or was lazy but we has a lot of money to eat out every day so I dont know. I like to cook because I praticed and I am very good at it.