ITT: what got you into cooking?

You should follow your dreams

Become a chef then. What's the point of living if you're not going to do what you want?

Yeah. I moved through the ranks pretty quick. I've run several kitchens and moved on when I needed/wanted to move on. I hate it when "management" or "owners" want to fuck with my menu for completely asinine reasons.

The head chef at the place I work at hates that shit too. The owner tries to tell him what he should be doing as if our chef doesn't know way more than him.

My dad would try to get me to help him out maintaining the cars, but he'd get mad when my autistic ass would just bang the tools around, so he'd send me to help my mom cook. We also lived next to a massive Asian market, so my mom would always have us try interesting new foods.

I do a job I tolerate that makes great money and has fantastic benefits/vacation so that I can do the things I love.

Fair enough. You could possibly open a side business selling pastries if you wanted to.

needing to eat

Money. My family was wasting too much money on prepackaged dinners like this and eating out. I finally sat down and figured out just how much we were spending per serving on these things and eating out vs. raw ingredients. The fact that food started tasting better as a result, was a pleasant side-effect.

mostly i like being able to eat

Memes.

Yep

Baking cookies with my mother was a lot of fun, and introduced me to the kitchen at a young age. Since it made for some of my favorite memories, I decided to try other avenues a couple years ago. Namely, cooking actual food.

It's still fun.

I'm a bit of a hermit / homebody and cooking is a comfy thing to do while chilling at home alone.

Also makes eating cheaper than eating takeaway all the time.

needing to eat

>Now I understand most places just use ridiculous amounts of fat.
Probably true for the most part.
Fat, salt and sugar are a shortcut to the inbuilt part of your brain that tells you this is good for survival, but we don't need that anymore.
I cook for a living and my meals at home are fucking delicious and low fat/sugar/salt, it's all about balance and knowing what to use where.

know the feel.

Cooking family dinner for mom when she was having health problems.

They tell me my cooking is """"""""really good"""""""".

I just got tired of eating the same piece of shit freezer aisle meals. Also, I've been into gardening, and growing fresh vegetables and fruitssince I was a kid, so I wanted to use them to their potential.

That's really not too bad user. They could have been feeding you pizza rolls, or cheeseburgers, or some other greasy/processed shit.

Neither of my parents cooked so it was fend for yourself or die

wanting to make something that actually tasted good instead of the trash served at restaurants

I wish I could be an unemployed house wife that stays home all day cooking dinner, drinking wine and buying junk from the tv shopping channel with my wealthy husband's credit card.

Fucking same, being a fat dude though really makes that a pipe dream

I need to eat.

>non-profit organization
What was the purpose of the organization?

Dad left, Mom cooked like shit, but was too proud of it for some reason. When I tried to cook my own meals my mom would just say "NO let me cook you can't cook Autist", so whenever she was gone I would try to cook some actual good meals

In my youth I was one of the "women like men who can cook"-types but as I got older and embraced the Veeky Forums-Veeky Forums mentality of "do it for yourself as opposed to trying to appease imaginary people", I realized I really enjoy cooking

My mom is a really good cook, so when I moved out and realized the food I made was terrible it was unacceptable because I was used to eating well.

this desu but NEVER invest in anything you can't afford to lose.

Being in the military and being starved while training, going to schools, and doing missions in the GWOT, and having to eat MRE's, field rations, T-rations, and D-Fac chow for years. I vowed when I got the fuck out I would never eat garbage chow again, outside of emergencies.

I've been learning to cook ever since, and feel confident in being able to make anything I want, and having it turn out pretty fucking good. The internet, and youtube, are game changers, and there is no reason why anyone should be eating shitty food anymore since all the info you need to cook exists online.

>I got a job as a dishwasher and it went from there.

Respect for being willing to work and actually enjoying what you do.

Cooking is fun, manly, and nutritious. I got sick of being a chubby, weak-spined faggot who ate fast food all the time.

>Be 16
>Think cooking's for women and gays
>Mom tells me something one day
>"You know user, girls think it's pretty damn attractive when a guy knows how to cook!"
>16 year old, hormone-fuelled brain goes into maximum overdrive
>"Me + Cooking good food + girl = SEXUAL INTERCOURSE BETWEEN MYSELF AND SAID GIRL"
>Immediately set out to know how to cook
>Sucked at first but gradually improved
>I've become a proficient barbecue cook, among other things, taught my brother how to barbecue
>He and I do it so reliably my dad never barbecues anymore
>mfw the first time I ever made love was after I cooked my girlfriend steak
>mfw mom was right
>mfw I unironically love cooking now, even if it were to be without the prospect of getting laid

^^^

And the fact that cooking something and then immediately eating it afterwards feels so fulfilling that it got me hooked.

Started out as a food runner in college food service, got tired of running food so I moved into the kitchen. Eventually got tired of making shitty college food, worked my way up into better and better kitchens from there.

I liked the idea of being self sufficient and helping out the family with some meals. Funnily enough, watching lots of Gordon Ramsay shows also got me into cooking, because it looked pretty fun and some of the sophisticated-looking dishes weren't even that complex or challenging to make.

Damn man same here. Only I'm just moving up to line cook.
Line cook>Prep cook>Dishwasher

Being poor as fuck on foodstamps while my sister would use the stamps to buy FAKE VEGETARIAN MEATS, 6 dollars for 4 fake chicken patties, 7 dollar cheese pizzas, the fancy premade mac and cheese, ice cream and lots of soda. She basically used it as free food pass. This bitch patted herself on the back for her vegetarianism and yet only ate fake meat, pizza, chips and mac and cheese. She was a psychopath who literally threatened murder, suicide or both as a first resort if you confronted her. It was not worth worrying that she killed herself, or sleeping with one eye open, or risking a 4 hour long screaming match that ended in mom crying just to tell her to shop cheaper. Sorry for rant, I hated that cunt. We do not speak anymore.

So, I learned to live on cheap meals. I learned to cook delicious shit consisting of cheap cuts of meat, rice, beans, cheap veg, soups, lots of mexican, italian, asian food and other stuff. I guess one good good thing came of it.

This guy here, also "Biba's italian kitchen", while other kids watched cartoon network and fox kids I was watching cooking shows.

Forgot pic

Mom was a shit cook so I learned from my dad.

The realization that I'd die of malnutrition if I didn't otherwise.

Seconded. LIterally nothing else: not passion, not artistic expression, nor creative desire.

ironically, coming back home after uni to be aimless.

did nothing, felt bad about it, decided to contribute to the family dynamic. did chores and cooking and babysitting. for a while i thought id make a great house hubby because i genuinely enjoyed it, maybe even more if the stress of an empty future didnt break my mind every other day.

i started with pancakes, and i think that was a great learning experience. theres a lot of ways to fuck up pancakes if youre new and its a good lesson on getting intimate with heat.

Sure, I'll blog post.
>be me
>late teens
>totally into this lady who wasn't into me at all
>I had nothing to offer her, just a dead ass 17 yo with a love who was 15 (and preg, not mine).
>youtube.com/watch?v=mD8TApX3btM
>wanted to get good at something
>in the industry anyways for dishwashing $$$
>made friends with a guy who knew how to cook (through a Perkins/Dennys,etc)
>he taught me how to make a reduced cream sauce
>before then my mom taught me how to make a microwave hamburger
>got into soups
>found a GF who was into foody
>self taught cooker for years
>finally got into the industry
>worked way up from prep to sous
>worked in many different places since
>exec chef in some places
>wow, I guess I showed her....
>meh at life. 46 and wondering how I'm going to get millenials to take care of me when I can't wipe my own butt.

Moved back home after college. Mom was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and once she was gone, I took over cooking duty.

Trying to keep rest of family well-fed, rather than letting them resort to living on premade stuff, ordered pizza, and canned soup.

First job ever was dishwasher. Then I started doing prep and at around the same time the sous-chef lent me Kitchen Confidential.
I think that's the only book I've read more than five times.

Kinda miss the cook life sometimes.

getting my dumbass wife to stop wasting money at restaurants

then i discovered how fucking cheap it is to cook if you get familiar with the prices at all the local markets

also
youtube.com/watch?v=XLYqTZKEpvs

Same here man. Imagine being able to stay home all day, kids at school, and you can take all day to make one fantastic meal.

>theres a lot of ways to fuck up pancakes

Now that I think about it, breakfast really is the best meal to learn how to cook. There's pancakes, bacon, eggs. They are like mini course on cooking.

Can't remember, honestly. It just... kind of started happening. I would start making my own lunches, then later on when I was home alone while the parents were gone I would start making my own dinners, but I can't remember when exactly that started. It never really occurred to me to do anything different such as buying frozen food or going out to eat. Just seems sad if you can't make your own food for yourself.

Dad and his friends and my cousins were all hunters. I wasnt great at hunting (fine shot, just rarely ever had anything go by) but I excelled at cutting up the game. Eventually I just got put in the garage with my wrestling coach to spend hours a week cutting up deer/hogs/beef. The natural next step was learning how to cook it all, especially the secret cuts Teddy showed me that non butchers dont know about.

I had 15k dollars from botting runescape and whatnot just sitting in canadian paypal accounts and didn't know what to do with my life. I used to pass culinary school on my way to work in boston and told my dad. Eventually my dad pressured me to make choices in life and I went for culinary school.
and I never want to fucking work in a kitchen again.

I just love being paid fuck all to work insanely long hours and get the same respect I would working in Tesco stacking shelves

I like to eat good food but i dont want to pay out the ass for it.

My mom and dad were shit cooks so i learned from my wife.

I wanted to eat nice things.

Habitat for Humanity. They build houses.

I went to a boarding school in the middle of nowhere, like in the middle of the forest. You wouldnt recognize it as a school; it was more like a reform camp to the outside eye if you didnt understand the context. Also, the curriculum was not organized. Not that it wasnt streamlined, it kind of fell apart once academia started. Anyways,

The food would be notoriously bad. Due to a) low funding due to lack of students and b) the cooks were untrained. I can't remember a time that an actual cook worked there. On top of that, there was a strict "NO SUGAR" policy, so the menu was pretty fucking bland. I know sugar isn't a huge factor in most dishes, but this extended to anything that the principal (for lack of a better word) deemed icky. Of course, her idea of pancake batter for 20 was 36 eggs, 3 cups of olive oil, whole wheat flour, salt and two tablespoons of honey.

So I started making my way into the kitchen and making my own alternative meals. Eventually, I started making side meals for people who had had enough, and then I started working as a cook for 2 dollaroos an hour. When the principal noted that the quality improved but didnt like my style, she reinstated another incompetent cook.

It kept up as a hobby for awhile when I went back home, and then I started working at resturaunts. I always practice because I'm a living organism, thus need food, and ive found the beauty in the art of cooking.

So here I am with you fucks

Mom made me learn a bunch of dishes I didn't like. I decided to try cooking things I wanted and never looked back at making what she did ever again

Free time, trying random recipes on the internet, not that I'm any good or anything it's mostly for fun and experimentation.

Got hired as a food runner at a fine dining place, right after dropping out of college. I liked to cook but I was poor so it was mostly basic shit like fried rice and DIY ramen.

Sous chef took me under his wing and taught me a shit ton of food processes and introduced me to a variety of ingredients that I haven't seen before in my life. The pastry chef let me hang out in the bakery from time to time.

I cook perfect eggs now. I'm 25 and I'm more respected than my manager cause I know how into food. People fucking love it when I cook them something cause all they know how to do is stir fry.

That is the most appetising dessert I've seen in my life.

When I started to seek out escapism and hedonism at about age 18 because I was going through a lot of mental problems, self hatred, and extreme boredom. I actually got very interested in nutrition and learned why some people were fat while I was still skinny and eating a terrible diet with no exercise.

Also my mother could only cook certain very traditional dishes like roasts and pastries and baking, and she was pretty ordinary at a lot of other foods so I got sick of the take away food and repetitive dishes and decided to learn how to actually cook.

I'm actually not into cooking, I just come here to calm down from the other boards sometimes. Plus, it gives me ideas for shit to try. Y'all are britty chill.

You can be a chef with accountant skill, it's a plus if you own a restaurant

My first girlfriend and i made a roast chicken together. We thought it was the fucking shit. In actuality it was just fucking shit, but since then i've had a passion to improve in the kitchen and i try to cook from scratch every day.

Once I hit 18 I wanted to eat more than just instant noodles so I looked up shit online. I lucked out by getting a roommate via OKCupid who in retrospect was a worthless nigger, but she wanted to be a culinary student and ended up teaching me the basics.

Was a picky eater as a child but ever since I started making an income I was more open to trying out new foods. 10 years later and I would call myself a competent home cook.

Parents divorced when i was 4 so i got to eat properly made food by mom who is a chef and slop that auto mechanic dad made.
This contrast in food quality motivated me to ask and learn to cook

I've always had the theory, after a trip to a certain restaurant, that no one knows how to cook food I like better than me. And since then, it's started to make sense economically and it's damn fun to cook

I go to a nice restaurant in town, have something that I've never had before and analyse what they put into it that gives it the taste etc. Then I go home and I try to recreate that dish in my own kitchen. If I succeed, then it feels as though I've just accomplished a challenge. Keeps the food I eat interesting as well I guess

I wanted to feel technically and morally superior to others on the internet and shitpost about something everyone has an interest in