When you learn one of your go-to foods

[2naSalit]

5. I used to think...

That I was "making up" recipes only to find that I had intuited some creation from some other part of the world confirmed by my mentor who knew everything you could know about food. I used to try to play "stump the chef" with her but she always won.

What I did learn from her, among many other things, was how to build a dish by understanding what works together and what doesn't whether it's a food component or a spice combination. That took a while. I didn't realize I could actually cook until someone Tom Sawyered me into taking a job in a commercial kitchen that led me to a whole bunch of kitchen cook/management jobs. It was interesting but everything is heavy and I can't do heavy lifting anymore.

Now I cook for myself, mostly, and for friends on occasion but nothing big.

But back to your question, I think that just about everything has been made somewhere at some time, it;s a matter of presentation and discovery on an individual level.