[HazzaGrazza]

For me it was a boyfriend I had when I was 18, he was a chef and on our first date he invited me to his and we cooked salmon with hollandaise sauce.

Before then I used to eat all sorts, frozen shepherds pies were my fave haha it definitely opened my eyes and made me realise I enjoyed cooking.

I'm a 23 year old female by the way, thought it would be nice to put an image to some of the regulars on here lol

What was the moment that made you realise you loved cooking?

[Color of Night]

I got married at 17 as my hubby was in the army & at the time they would only let you live together if you were married. I had never really cooked but my hubby is a natural, I wanted to show him I could do it so taught myself to cook.
Now I love cooking & baking, I will try anything & have the approval of my mother in law who is an amazing cook.
I am now 50 & pass everything on to my 2 daughters one of which is a natural & seems to be able to cook anything put in front of her. My eldest is now 31 & just starting to learn properly so I made a recipe book for her of simple recipes. My 6 yr old grand daughter loves baking so I think she is going to be a natural too

[jojo01]

Good question that I can't answer! I don't know when I became really interested (almost to the point of obsession!) with food. It's been a gradual thing over the years but mainly the last five years or so.

I've always loved eating food though... my sisters used to call me dustbin when I was a kid because I'd happily finish everything they didn't want to eat!

[whoever,hey]

I cant actually remember, though it was a slow passion that grew. I was a fussy eater till i got to uni, then had to cook for myself. Started with stirfrys, and just tried more and more things. Since mid 20s i've just wanted to try anything i can. Now 34 i just obsess about it every week, looking for new things to try.

[earthling13]

When I was working I just didn't have so much time but I ate well in my job and going out generally. Since giving up work I've had more time but, initally, less variety so I started to cook more having been encouraged by TV chefs and the internet. I'm not a great cook but I do enjoy the fact that I know everything that is in my food and I don't think I could every go back to ready meals. Everything I cook now is fresh and I only rarely use cooking sauces.

[molliepops]

I guess I started to learn quite early I think I was 8 when I cooked my first dinner, my Gran had got it into her head she might die before we grew up and wanted to make sure at one of us could cook. So being the eldest I was volunteered.

She spent the next few years handing on all her recipes and showing me all she knew.

By the time she actually died I was happily married with a very grateful husband who loved her recipes.

I think the first thing I cooked was shepherds pie and the first baking I did was scones.

[LaChatteGitane]

Growing up with parents who only promoted good food, grew their own organic veg, fruit, chickens and ducks...
As a young child I was a terrible eater, as in very small portions, never hungry. That all changed when I was around 14 and my appetite made an appearance.
My first proper dish I cooked was a vegetable soup when I was 15. I then ventured into pizza making and that was it. Always wanted to try new things, cook properand great tasting food with natural ingredients and that had been processed as little as possible.
I am nearing 50 and still have as much pleasure in cooking (and feeding) as when I first started with the soup.

I too grow a lot of my own veg and we even helped two roosters on their way to the cooking pot Sunday before last.

It must be in my blood. My mother is a great cook and my grandmother was too.

[Dazzaschofield]

It was a mixture of two things.

First my Mum and Dad split up and I stayed with my Dad as I knew he'd need the most support. I ended up looking after him (at age 14) cooking all his meals etc (at this point only chicken nuggets n chips and such).

Then I needed a job so got a pot wash position at a local resturante and eventually worked my way up to running a kitchen. Somewhere in the middle of my climb through the ranks my job became my passion and at one point I was all set to fly out to Australia and cook out there...love stopped me and I ended up ditching the career to be able to spend time with my partner.

Now I'm a 25 yr old Resource Planning Analyst for a mail order/online retail company and I mainly cook for fun!

[missymorgan]

I was always involved in cooking when I was younger but when I met my ex, he kinda took over. When we split I was living on my own so just decided to get on with things and more so once I met my partner and I had my little one. The other half isn't the best cook and fortunately all that stuff I'd listened to when I was younger stood me in good stead.

Thats when I realised I could....I started to love it as I cooked more for my daughter, particularly baking, I realised I wasn't too bad (well so far lol)

[breppo]

There was an orchard nearby where I grew up. The orchard was neglected for decades. It was a treasure trove of old apple and pear varieties, red currants etc. Because it was a kind of impenetrable jungle with al kinds of nasties like nettles and thorny shrubs, we were forbidden to go there. Of course nothing tastes better than forbidden fruit. So me and my brother went there anyway and came back with loads and loads of apples. My father, the gentle giant that he was, said nothing, but showed us how to make apple sauce and compote. So we made our own. It was a revelation, it was so easy to do and so delicious. It started my interest in cooking. I was 8 years old at the time.

[HazzaGrazza]

Some lovely stories and memories on here, really making me smile reading them all

[Pixie Queen]

My mum was and still is not the best cook in the world. She was a fantastic baker and I have wonderful memories of her baking and wee Pixie me "helping". I can produce wonderful scones, breads and pastry but a sponge is my nemesis. Her home made soup was amazing and I would help with peeling and grating this and that. My mum boiled everything till she was sure it was dead. Veg, meat, eggs - you name a foodstuff and my mum boiled it. A baker I am not. I really do need idiot proof and tested cake recipes but I'm fantastic at soup.

My mum is still about but isn't allowed to cook anything now as she "forgets" what she's doing. We need to keep her safe.

My dad visited places all over the world and was one of life's natural cooks. He picked up techniques and recipes and oh my goodness - He could produce a meal for 7+ from two spuds, some wild garlic and whatever was ready on the veg plot. Hell, we (my siblings and I) thought everyone had curry and pasta and rice (not rice pudding) back in Scotland in the 1960's and 1970's. I helped him with the veg and he would have me standing on a kitchen chair in front of a pot half filled with boiling fat in charge of noodles deep frying or veg being done in batter. He also made wonderful tablet, fudge and toffee.

My Nonna oh ... great memories of cooking with La Nonna. Tomato sauce for pasta, lasagne, cooking with rabbit, offal, gutting fish, making risotto, making pasta and gnoccii and everything done with love.

My Grannie - She was the Queen of Jam. Raspberry, strawberry, bramble, gooseberry, red, black and white currant, plum, apple, pears... you name a fruit grown in Scotland and my Grannie made jam. She had a giant copper jam pan that looked to my eyes as a wee Pixie a magical, glowing gold mystical, cauldron. Her and my Grampa kept chickens. I did as a wee Pixie pick out who (the chooks all had names)we were having for dinner if family legend is to be believed. I believe it.

I've had inspiration all my life to cook from different people and different sources but I've named the most important ones to me.

edit. I do find it interesting that Mummy always was more worried about me hurting myself when cooking. Daddy, Nonna and Grannie seemed to have more confidence and let me get on with it. If I cut myself with a share knife or burned myself with boiling oil they would have dealt with it.

[SHAFT]

My parents are both chefs so it was kind of a natural thing for me. I was helping out in the kitchen at home from about the age of 4! I think I cooked my first family meal (chicken and pesto lasagne) when I was 12.

[big_hard_lad]

I got interested when I met my now wife at 19. Having been living away from home for 2 years and surviving on mostly ready meals and takeaways, she started to show me how to cook simple things like Spag Bol and Shepard's Pie. Since then my passion for food has grown and grown. We love watching cooking shows and trying new things....we even plan our holidays around where we want to go and eat our way around.

I'm 26, by the way, I work in IT and I cook for fun, I find it a great way to relax after a stressful day and I love nothing more than seeing happy people eating the food I prepared.

[Utopian Girl]

The fact my late Mother was a rubbish cook - in fairness she was the 10th out of eleven children, so I guess the older ones and my grandmother did the cooking. Then I loved cookery at school and we used to cook different things compared to Mum's Sunday lunches etc. Plus about the age of twelve I became vegetarian which really stumped my Mother! Hence I cooked whenever I could which my Mother never argued about!

[Thrasymachus]

Neither of my parents had any interest in cooking and although they always managed to produce something every night using fresh ingredients most of the time it was pretty uninspired stuff.

I guess my passion for cooking developed once I was at Uni as now I had to learn how to cook for myself. I didn't want to be one of these people who reach for a ready-meal when struggling to think of something to eat when you can usually produce something as equally as quick using fresh ingredients

[stud u like]

My early experiments in cooking involved ginger beer and a saucepan. Of course, it boiled dry and my Grandma was not pleased. I had to scrub the pan with a wire brush.

This taught me two things. Cooking only works if you watch it. Ignore it and it boils dry and makes you have to scrub.

[Thrasymachus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by big_hard_lad

I find it a great way to relax after a stressful day and I love nothing more than seeing happy people eating the food I prepared.

Unless they don't like what you've cooked and tell you to your face

This has never happened to me personally but I know a fair few people who have seen their efforts in the kitchen slaughtered once it reached the table.

[big_hard_lad]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thrasymachus

Unless they don't like what you've cooked and tell you to your face

This has never happened to me personally but I know a fair few people who have seen their efforts in the kitchen slaughtered once it reached the table.

Never happened to me thankfully....I'm pretty sure my friends would keep it to themselves anyway, family would be another kettle of fish!

[Lainiomonkio]

My Mum was and still is a phenomenal cook and although she's Malaysian, she has been able to turn her hand to anything be it English, Italian or Indian food. She's so controlling in the kitchen though so I never really helped her because I could never do anything right and as such couldn't really cook very much for myself when I went off to uni but armed with a student cookbook and the knowledge that it was either learn to cook or face three years of Pot Noodles, I started with the basics (spag bol, sausage and mash) and slowly worked my way up from there.

I had my culinary breakthrough about six years ago when I discovered the Good Food website and magazines and fell in love with the cook book section of WHSmiths and haven't stopped cooking or baking since. My epiphany came when I was fortunate enough to work on a major cookery TV series and got to work with all sorts of food and watch it being prepared and cooked (and also do some of that myself) and so I love cooking, reading about and talking about food! I've started a picture diary of some of my culinary creations and can now understand why my mother was so controlling in the kitchen (but hopefully when I have kids I'll encourage them to have a go rather than shout at them for not slicing carrots thinly enough!).

[callmediva]

I'd always been lazy in the kitchen until the day when Mrs Diva was diagnosed with diabeties, and on top of that suddenly depeloped algergies to loads of things found in ready meals.

So I had to become very interested in cooking, very quickly. Luckily, most things have turned out ok, and now, I really enjoy it.

[degsyhufc]

Had to start cooking for myself. Went to uni. Spent alot of time watching telly and cooking programs seemed to be on all the time. Was unemployed for a bit and the same. Just watching cooking programs and decided to start trying out some of the things instead of eating takeaways, ready meals and "student food".

[80's chick]

having my first child.

I was determined i'd try and cook for him and susequently my children after that.

I have a family I have to cook for them and I love it

[kochspostulates]

I think it was from getting stressed from studying. I used to destress by baking. Then I realised I could not just survive on cakes and biscuits, so had to learn to cook other things.


Reading the other posts, I think it is interesting how a couple of people have said that making shepherds pie or spagetti bolognese was one of the first things they ever made. I find things like that so labour intensive. Just making the topping of the pie involves scrubbin, peeling, boiling and mashing potatoes, then piping it on top of the meat, then baking it.

I think even making spinach and ricotta tortellini from scratch using a pasta machine is easier than shepherds pie!

[whoever,hey]

The mash you describe for that shepherds pie is two mins work though! Anything fresh needs washing. And you don't have to bake it unless you want to melt cheese on top.