For me it began while trying to impress the woman who would become my Darling Wife some forty years ago. It was honed by living in Germany for four years soon after we got married and enjoying continental cuisine where it was developed. Started doing it by myself about twenty years ago when I had to start eating healthier. But I still enjoy a greasy hamburger (just not as oftern as I used to).

I started watching Julia Child in grainy black and white on channel 45 and that was what started it for me. That, and the fact that mom made exactly 5 meals that we had on the same nights of the week every week (except on holidays).

On my 18th birthday I was taken to Windows on the World restaurant in NYC. It was nothing like I had ever experienced before in my life and my grandfather was giving me a lesson about fine food, and tasting everything. It was the first time I had ever had foie gras (and I have been hooked ever since.) My outlook on food was forever changed after that evening.

I was very lucky to be rased in a family where EVERYBODY cooks. Some of my earliest memories are of sitting on the counter at one grandmother's house or another "helping" to make cookies... My palate was broadened in the homes of friends as my immediate family traveled around the country with my Navy dad, and later as I've traveled on my own. To this day, food is how my family expresses love.

I certainly did not come about my love of food in as extraordinary of a way as having been taught by Jacques Pepin...that is so amazing! I also did not come about my love of food as a lot of people do, through their mothers or grandmothers. My mother is a terrible cook, and makes only 2 things well (pumpkin bread and potato salad), and the only thing my grandmother made was reservations. My knowledge of food is 100% self taught with the help of MAerica's Test Kitchen/Cook's Illustrated, Mark Bittman, and yes, the Food Network.

Joyce! At our house you could tell what day it was by what was for dinner!

My mother was from the south, so everything was cooked to death and then 1/2 an hour. Her mother-in-law was English, so my father had extremely low expectations. I really learned after my kids were grown and I was divorced and could eat whatever I wanted. I don't have cable, but I worked with someone who was absolutely fearless in what she'd put together. I mostly picked her brain.

I wandered aimlessly over from Reality Check...

I grew up as the kid who'd order the thing on the menu they'd never heard of or eaten before (my brother only orders hamburgers, regardless of the restaurant, to this day. He'll never forgive me for taking him to that vegetarian co-op in Brattleboro, VT).

I don't love haute cuisine more than pit beef. I love well-prepared food from good ingredients, along with ice cream and chocolate. If it tastes good, I don't care if it is low-brow, middle-brow or haute.

For me it may have started the first time I tasted blue (or bleu, if you prefer) cheese. I think I was maybe 7, but I remember the moment clearly. It was a perfect California day, we were about to go for a ride in a boat, the sky was blue (not bleu), etc., etc. The only thing that impressed me was the cheese.

I think Joyce W. and I had the same childhood! I was enthralled by Julia, and I did eat my first steak tartare while making Swedish/Norwegian meatballs with my Mom. Mostly though, those were for parties and we ate ham roll-ups (don't ask), sloppy joe's, steakums, tacos, and chicken tetrazini. Steak was once a month, and it was broiled, very well done. She still makes the tetrazini for my brother when he ventures home, but my sisters and I bring salad and steamed shrimp to those gatherings. :)

I became interested in baking with my Easy-Bake oven and then in Girl Scouts. My grandmother and I baked Christmas Cookies together, her secret recipe, and I now bake them in her absence. I have an autographed copy of "Baking with Julia" from her last appearance in Baltimore in the 90s.
I began to cook so I could break away from the ham roll-ups.

My husband was a latch key kid who knew that if he wanted to eat, he had to cook. Now we have many cookbooks, many recipes, and a child who only eats chicken nuggets, frozen peas, pasta with butter and Berger cookies. Sigh. We will keep trying with him.

PlainJane13, sometimes the foodie gene skips a generation. Good luck!

Bucky - Seriously? An American Idol tailgate party? You are hard core!

Trixie - There's a bit of a backstory. At one point, a local football team had a three-game lead with three games to go. It was all but certain we would have one more tailgate at a home playoff game. So I stocked up on Johnsonville brats when they went on sale.

"All but certain..." Words that will haunt the former head coach of that local football team for years to come.

Since we already had the brats, and since the weather was reasonably good for January...

Lissa, excellent point.
Speaking of which, Bucky, have you ever tried Usinger's brats?

For me, it started with The Galloping Gourmet, in which Graham Kerr cooked in front of a live audience while downing mass quantities of wine. It all looked fun, and the results sure looked better than the frozen entrees, TV dinners, instant mashed potatoes, and over-boiled vegetables that passed for food in my house.

hmpstd - you, me, PlainJane13, and Eve may have all lived in the same house!

jl asked: have you ever tried Usinger's brats?

I haven't but I'll look for them this weekend. That's how much I trust your judgement in these matters.

PlainJane13, my daughter, who is now 31, still will not eat any vegetable except carrots. Calamari and sushi yes, vegetables no. For Christmas dinner last year it was Baby Carrots in Cream Curry Sauce. Her idea of salad is croutons with blue cheese dressing. But keep trying.

The Galloping Gourmet! Such a good time! How could an English person cook so well???

Joyce - there was no drinking in our house. I used to watch the Galloping Gourmet and think, Maybe that's what's wrong...

Sorry I missed this...I haven't checked in for several days. I'm SO jealous of John; I ADORE Jacques Pepin. I'd probably swoon if ever I got to meet him in person.

I just sorta fell into cooking by watching Mom when I was small, then helping as I got older. She wasn't a great cook, but then she had to please Dad's very pedestrian palate, so I don't know if she had any culinary "muscles," so to speak. I developed my own style while living on my own for many years, and learned even more by being on the "crews" that cooked suppers at church. I rarely use recipes any more, except for baking--I'm not good enough to "fudge" the chemistry of baking. I love to cook, especially if I can "show off" for holiday or family celebration dinners.

I had the same mother as Joyce, Eve, et.al. And then came Julia. My then-hubby and I made wonderful things together from her cookbooks and opened a whole new world for ourselves, out guests, and eventually our children.