I have a YouTube channel, but I think it‘s ugly to promote it here 😁 And I post videos very rarely lately. But let’s see, what advice I can give you in a few words. I don’t know what is the level of your cooking, but always start with something simple that you enjoy eating. Find some recipes that you can trust and stick to them, watch some videos on how to do them so that you first understand them well, so that when you are in the fire of things, you don’t panic. Prepare all the ingredients in advance. I don’t, because I know where everything is and I am fast. But as a beginner it is ok to be slow. Once you mastered the recipe, you can start changing it if you like and see where it leads you. Never be disappointed that something did not turn out right, at least you learn something from that experience.

If you have friends that cook well, organise a cooking evening and let them use your kitchen. Look at how they do things and ask questions. I learned a lot from the women in my family when I was little. Always keep being curious and be willing to try things out.

When you taste something, even if you did not cook it, try to immerse yourself in the experience. Analyse if something tastes salty, sweet, sour, umami. Can you identify some of the ingredients? Give yourself the opportunity to diversify your palate, trying new things. From knowledge comes a sense of confidence in cooking, trusting your senses. When you cook for yourself, add salt little by little, until it tastes good. Ask yourself, is it lacking salt, or it needs some acidity to balance the sweetness or the other way around.

I play a lot with the balance of sweetness and acidity. And I don’t mean adding sugar, veggies are already sweet(onions, carrots, leeks, potatoes etc), slow cooked meat can also be a bit sweet. So many times I balance these things with something acidic: lemon juice, tomato, vinegar, tamarind paste, etc. If i have a tomato sauce that is too acidic I might add a tiny bit of sugar, or sautéed onions, etc.

If you are used to eating a lot of processed foods, you might need a break from all that. They usually add a lot of flavour enhancers, and eating natural foods might seem bland at first. But after that you will discover a world of variety.