Special Sections Editor Anne Kapler e-mailed me a link to this article that states that most women reach their cooking peak at 55.

A survey for the Co-operative Food came to this conclusion after studying the responses from 1,000 women. Women who identified themselves as 55 or older were more confident in their kitchen skills than women in the 20s and 30s.

According to the results, by age 55, a woman can bake without weighing or measuring ingredients, make a great dinner out of leftovers and rescue a meal that is going wrong.

Women who have reached their mid-50s also have a repertoire of more than 15 meals they can make from memory. (I can only think of five recipes I can make from memory so I have some catching up to do, but since I’m on my mid-30s, I have time.)

The survey also found that women tend to experience cooking milestones when they are in their 20s. For example, the average woman baked her first cake aged 21 (it doen’t specify if a box mix counts), cooked her first roast dinner and first romantic meal at 23, hosted her first dinner party at 26, and made her first Christmas lunch for the whole family at 27.

Have you accomplished those culinary milestones? What are your thoughts on this survey?