Cooking
Chefs will often find that they need an Oven nearby to create their masterpieces, though in some cases a simple Heating Stand will suffice. The serious cook will also install a Flour Mill and Water Trough in his or her home, and perhaps even hire an NPC Barkeep Vendor. While most food officially grants no benefits other then a small Stamina boost when eaten, Egg Bombs can be of great value in PvP situations. Savage Kin Paint can also be used to prevent morph spells being used on those who apply it especially helpful when battling Barracoon the Piper.
Training:
Start with 50 on a new character, or buy from an NPC Baker to around 30. Barbecued items are easiest for training, since they only require raw meat, and no water. These can be made out of a single piece of meat each, so you can collect more while you're gathering Leather or out Fishing. Targeting a stack of meat will cook the entire lot in one go and give much faster gains then cooking one slab at a time. You'll require less meat overall if you take the slow method, however.
Alternatively:
You can cook whatever you like to get to about 75ish - personally I made lots of dough as it stacks and I'm likely to use it later on. Once you hit about 75 or so, switch to Miso Soups; there are four different kinds and all require 60 skill, water and a single uncooked fish steak to make. Making Miso will take you to GM with probably the least resources (as long as you have a house). Ideally you want an oven, a water trough, 10 pitchers of water, a trash barrel and a crate full of bags and skillets (or whatever your preferred tool of choice is). Put the pitchers of water in your backpack and a load of fish steaks in a bag (in your pack) and start making Miso. The Miso will appear in the bag with your fish steaks so when your backpack is full just remove the fish steaks from that bag and drop it in the trash barrel. When you run out of water just refill pitchers from the water trough. Rinse and repeat to 100.