I don't remember how young I was when I started making peanut butter
and jelly sandwiches, but that's not cooking. My father couldn't boil
water, and my mother was at best an adequate cook, except for her
excellent baking.
I think I was around 11 when I decided to start making my favorite
meat, other than pb&j, baked beans. Got pretty good and heating up a
can with some ketchup and brown sugar.
My first wife and I both loved Chinese food, and the friend who'd
introduced us to it gave us a wok, cleaver and cutting board for a
wedding gift. We bought a authentic Chinese cookbook in Chinatown on
our pre-wedding honeymoon (on the way to get married). I offered to do
the Chinese cooking to give her a break. I still to Asian cooking,
Chinese and Cambodian, mostly, and still use the sweet and sour recipe
from that cookbook, though the cookbook is long gone.
But I really got to cooking after my divorce. I had my 3 boys half the
time. and just couldn't feed them pizza 3 nights a week. Bought my
first cookbook since the honeymoon and started learning. Still have
that cookbook, and still use it occasionally.