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I became a vegetarian when I was in 6th grade, and my mom told me that she wouldn't prepare any special meals for me. That's when I started to learn how to cook. I made my way through most of the "Vegetarian Epicure" cookbooks and then went from there. Sometime in college I started eating meat again, and since then I have slowly learned how to cook some meat. DH and I both cook together a lot, and we like trying out new skills and methods, so we have become more and more accomplished as cooks over the years.

learned to cook from my mother, and also from cooking class in school. My school had an intense food and nutrition class that involved a lot of cooking. I'm still learning everyday

I'm still learning

I have a lot of "family" recipes I used to watch my grandparents and Mom make. but aside from that, I generally teach myself through trial and error!

i started really cooking once i got my own apartment in my mid-20s.

I started cooking for my little brothers and sisters when I was 12 or 13. No one really taught me, but I kind of just taught myself after watching my mom. I moved out when I was 17, and that's when I really started cooking. Now, I LOVE TO COOK!

I was making full dinners for my fam (mom and dad worked and sisters weren't interested in cooking) when I was 9 years old. I learned through helping my mom and observing her.

@lovelife: I'm with you. I never really did, and DH takes care of most of the meals!

I don't know that I ever specifically "learned" how to cook. I mean, it's not that hard... I just follow recipes and then once I get comfortable with something I can wing it more.
I don't really understand what people mean when they say they don't know how to cook. I always think that they must be making it harder than it needs to be if they think they can't do it.

Started learning at a young age - first dream job was caterer (to give you an idea, I wanted to be a caterer/policewoman/ballerina.) Got as good as/surpassed my mom once I was tall enough to use the back burners. REALLY started cooking once I moved in with my husband. Now I LOVE to cook. Still not a big fan of eating, and I HATE doing dishes.

My mom taught me the basics. A roommate taught me that vegetables really aren't evil. And cookbooks/online recipes/nutrition certification taught me the rest.

I learned one year when I was a nanny and had to cook the family dinner.

The Mom would leave me with a recipe book indicating what she wanted me to make, and left me with all the ingredients. The kids were older, so they slept in every morning, so the first thing I would do is read all about the recipe and look up anything I didn't understand.

After one summer of making dinners for a family every evening, I could cook almost anything.