What inspired you to learn how to cook?

Nothing.  I tried.  However, I am so bad at cooking, I'll burn the water.

Seeing my dad (he's the cook in the family) cooking. It made me want to learn what he knew. 

The possibility of starving.

Survival as bachelor. 

I wanted to see if I could actually cook the more complicated recipes and it turns out that I can.

Hunger pains.

Nothing inspired me to learn how to cook. 

As a child I would watch my parents as they cooked meals.  At age 8 I could make a simple breakfast of scrambled eggs, toast and bacon without parental supervision.  

I haven't "learned" yet.

How I boil water -   

1 - put water in pot
2 - set pot on stove
3 - turn burner setting to high
4 - wait 3 minutes
5 - deploy fire extinguisher
6 - open windows to vent smoke
7 - Buy new pan, new stove, another fire extinguisher, and repair wall above stove.

You know, if Amazon sold boiling water they'd make a mint off of me.

I had dinner on the table when my mother came in from work at 6PM Monday-Friday as young as fourth grade.  I cooked everything...meatloaf, fried chicken and gravy, country fried steak, etc etc etc. 

It was a required part of the "Home Ec" class in middle school.

Being hungry.
Actually my mother-in-law taught me to cook, mum was a lousy cook (by her own admission, it was the domestic chore she hated most) so never tried to teach her sons - "I don't want you learning my bad habits, learn the skill from somebody who is good at it".

 

  Reports of my ability to cook have been greatly exaggerated.
~

not starving