how old when you learned to cook

kookgekje

My mum saw cooking as a chore. No surprise really because she had to cook for her entire family (11 of them!) every day from a fairly early age as her mum had severe arthritis. As a result I didn't think cooking was fun and my mum never made me do it.
Then at 18 I went to Paris as an au pair and one of my jobs there was to cook lunch and dinner for 2 young children. In the weeks before I went, my mum gave me a crash course in the most basic stuff. I didn't think I would get any enjoyment out of it but my bosslady in Paris changed all that (being French she was naturally obsessive about food). I turned into a cookbook maniac and experimented my way through university, much to the delight of my flatmates (well, most of the time - experimentation did go wrong sometimes:rolleyes:).
DD however (she's 6) has no interest in cooking or baking (she must be the only child in the UK who doesn't like cakes:D). She winges and moans when I try to involve her so I usually leave it. I'm keeping my fingers crossed it will change at some point.

Wickedkitten

fifi63 wrote: »

I can'not remember a time when i could not cook. When I was in the Brownies I did my cookery badge and I too was making cakes etc from about 10. I think my mum always encouraged my sisters and me to bake, etc. I also have always had a great love of cookery books and my godmother gave me my first one when I was about 9.

Ha, same here almost exactly. I went for the cook advanced badge!

It's not even just cooking. Some people these days are entirely useless on the domestic front full stop.

Trinny

misspenny wrote: »

i was astounded to find out how many of my friends cannot cook im in my 20s living with dp and have 2nd baby on the way and half of my friends are still living at home and can just about manage to pop i few holes in the lid of a ping dinner and shove it in the microwave. at wrok the other day i can accoss a 18 yr old who didnt know he needed a pan to fry an egg (though i do work with brain injured people so he may be excused), while i was at uni so mamy of my classmate had no idea who to cook even basic things and as a result ate rubbish and had terriable immune systems (prob due to malnutrition)

i know that by the age of 10 i was baking cakes on my own and making things like scrambled eggs for brother and me for saturday breakfast befor my parents got out of bed. and they where happy and confident that i could do this without hurting myself or burning the house down.

how old where you when you learned to cook?

Hi There

I failed my GCSE home ec with an unclassified - i managed to burn carrotts by letting them boil dry:o

I learnt to cook by making vege food as an impoverished student - when newly wed - i burnt more than i cooked and the food waste was truly horrifying. therefore no confidence.

When i met hubbie no 2 - things improved - i learnt to bake this year - which is pretty pathetic compared to the rest of you as i just had a pivotal birthday. My OH stoically eats my burnt, squashed, non risen efforts - while i try to get the food i make to look like it does in the books.

I now dont waste food, can cook - not confidently but can cook.

Lots still to learn tho - which is why i am here

Trin

little_miss_moneysaver_3

I think I was harassing my mother in the kitchen from quite an early age! We used to make things out of left over pastry. And jelly on a Saturday night ready for tea on Sunday. I remember probably the first time I cooked for the family I was 11, i'd learnt a basic tomato pasta sauce in cooking at school!!! Kind of went from there really. I'm 25 now! Though have lived away from my parents since I was 17 so have had plenty of practice.

I remember my sister who was 2 school years behind me when she also made the same pasta sauce for the first time. My OH is not very good really. Well he's not bad, but he's never had any practice, he's an only child and very well looked after! He does try though, made his first omlette last week so we're getting somewhere - he's now 29!

tiddly_widdly

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

I like the sound of your little girl, Tiddley: she's obviously the independent, determined type.

Yes she's very independent. It has both good and bad points

louisewh123

soon as i could stand!!

allydowd

I was about 30 before I could cook confidently.

PasturesNew

I never learned to cook, as such. I just wasn't allowed near the stove alone really.

I can remember:
- being allowed to boil the kettle and make coffee aged 8
- poaching eggs, aged 15
- doing stuff on toast aged 14+
- making up a Vesta curry packet when I was about 16
- making pastry/some flans when I was 18

I know how to cook as my mum cooked - and I'd see her doing it; we grew our own vegetables so I'd go pick those and peel them etc, but mum wasn't that good or adventurous.

I know how to cook things but even now, nearly 50, I've only ever cooked one roast dinner. There's just been no need for me to ever do it more than that once. Nobody to cook for, so what'd be the point.

I am confident that if I need to I can cook anything at all that I want to. Living alone, never having visitors at all, there's just never been a need to perform all things culinary when a simple sandwich will do most of the time.

In the last year I have cooked: my own bread, cakes, pizzas, chilli, curries, steamed puddings... well, whoopee doo, really, was the effort worth the end result .... mostly no. The only benefit really was a small joy factor that I made it. I know I'm a good cook, stuff tastes and looks great when I do it, but there's no point just for me.

Lurker1972

I'm 36 & am just starting to take an interest in cooking!!!!

I was a fussy eater when younger - my poor mum tried all the usual tricks of hiding veg, but it didnt work - I had a healthy appetite for the foods I like so there wasn't a huge problem - tinned peas, raw carrots & lots of salad....yumyum

I think it was cookery lessons at school that created the bigger problem, 11 year old me was horrified at being told to make a cup of tea without a teapot!!!!
was made to take cookery @ GCSE too (or had too many academic subjects) but had no interest - at home we had nice simple meals, roasts, meat n 2 veg, that sort of thing. what we were told to cook for lessons would simply go to waste......

anyway, ex-h was food snob, cooking had to be fancy, not the simple food i liked.......

fast forward a few years, taste buds have evolved, I hate waste in any form & feel the need to set good example for OH's 3 kids - so now I try any food that I like the smell of.......which means I'm eating sweetcorn, peppers, pineapple....etcetc

I can make a decent(ish) roast, but its always a rush at the last minute.
I'm pretty good with casseroles (not always using mr colemans packet mixes)
& now I've been made redundant I'm looking at more ways to feed us for less & I think expanding the cooking skills more could be one.......quite a journey

sorry, didnt mean to ramble! just got carried away with the thread!

Thistle-down

late 20's