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Use creativity everywhere! Why no one should use recipes to cook.

Let’s get a few things clarified here. I do not mean that we should never use recipes at all. Recipes are excellent sources of inspiration. Using them to learn different combinations of ingredients, different techniques of cooking is wonderful thing to do. I am proposing that when you learn enough about cooking to be able to experiment, do it all of the time. It can be part of your creativity training.

I always cook this way. When it is dinner time I go through a cook book and look for ideas. Sometimes I am in the mood for soup and other time for a stir-fry. As I am getting more and more ideas, I start formulating what my meal will look like. I might use spices from one recipe, sauce from another and other ingredients from my fridge that do not have anything to do with the first two recipes at all. You have to be careful as you can’t combine absolutely everything. Some things simply don’t go together. Once the meal is prepared though, the results are amazing. I call this style of cooking “All-Fusion” cuisine. I can promise you that you will never be bored again. With this you can forget eating plain “meat and potatoes” dinner. Imagination and creativity is one thing that enhances our life like no other.

How would you like to be that inventive?

I always loved stories of people who succeeded by coming up with really innovative ideas. The other day I was reminded of a story like that.

Paul Hartunian was sitting in his living room watching TV, when he came across a news cast about Brooklyn Bridge being renovated. He saw that those renovations generated quite a mountain of debris. All of a sudden a flash of inspiration struck him. He decided to call up the construction company and see if he could get the leftovers from the bridge. The man he spoke to quickly agreed and soon thereafter he got a pile of rotten wood from the old bridge delivered.

The brilliant part was what he did with this garbage. He took each piece of wood and mounted it on a plaque with an inscription “Brooklyn bridge” on it. He also made certificates of authenticity to assure that in fact that was the Brooklyn Bridge. Then he called a couple of news stations asking them if they wanted to do a story on a man who is selling the Brooklyn Bridge. Needless to say that it generated media frenzy and Paul is very happy several millions of sales later.

Some might say that Paul was lucky to get an idea like that; it is a one in a million kind of idea. Well I would disagree. Paul exemplifies the kind of creativity that we teach. Creativity and innovation are skills that can be developed. The best part is that developing these skills is as simple as just using them. All we do is make the process of creativity training simpler.