> In my experience, most "human recipes" are just random variations on some baseline.

This just shows your lack of experience and curiosity. The art of cooking is a cultural achievement with thousands of years of history, with vast differences between different countries and cultures. Just visit a store (yes, a real one) with a good cooking book section. You might be surprised.

Seriously, what's with this thread? I'd rather not have a discussion in this base tone.