Did some questing around. Level 15 now. Went with Amakna as a nation. Crafting consumables (cooking/baking) seems a waste of time ? Selling stuff on the auction house is only way of getting rid of junk drops ?
As Aklyon said, baking is amazing. Everybody wants bread. Cooking is... passable. Buffs are certainly helpful, although it's debateable by how much and the early levels will probably be fairly non profitable at the least. I make no guarentees on cooking being useful later, basically, but it seems sound just from looking at it. These things don't always pan out how I think though!
The other crafting professions, while more intensive, are fairly useful. Armorer/tailor can help fill out some important sets (notably gobball/tofu sets of all tiers), weapons have some amazing end game craftables (they're not quite end game raid boss drops but they're close, and bosses, as you might imagine, especially in late game, are a pain to farm for a potentially 0.1% drop), handyman is just awesome all around, frankly, and leathermaker makes bags which is nice too.
You can also destroy junk drops directly, click the item, then click the trash can icon in the description window thing. Also of note, the little hammer will tell you what professions use that item for crafting when you mouse over it.
Edit: Also of note, I won't be on for a good while, sorry. Several hours, at least. I'll try to get you in the guild later when I'm able.