The question about learning to cook doesn't have one answer.  My mother taught me the basics.  My first memory of cooking was standing on a chair when I was 8, stirring the oatmeal for breakfast.  By the time I was married I was a pretty good cook.  But......I married a man that ate differently, entirely differently from the way I grew up. We both had country cooks for mamas but soooo different. 

It took me about 5 yrs to get a good mix of both styles of cooking.  To my husband's credit, he liked a lot of my mother's cooking so we just mixed it up and made our own way.  My mother taught me how to make bread and let me experiment with baking pies and cookies.  Her one pot meals of soups and stews were what my husband likes most.  His grandmother actually taught me what I know of his families cooking.  She made the most delicious potato salad I every ate.  It's one of the things I'm "famous" :) for. 

I've lived more than half a century and am still learning new ways of doin stuff in the kitchen.  I plan to learn a whole lot more before I'm used up.

Peggy