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[Jadael]

As a cook, I think food preservation is really the most important thing.

Basically all food only lasts a few days at room temperature at best. By which I mean meat, fruits, veggies, etc. There are lots of ways to counteract this besides cold.

Salt, acid, and drying would be the most common ones. Salt is either used for curing (which draws moisture out of the food by osmosis) or brining, which raises salinity high enough that organisms can't thrive. Acid prevents most organisms from living, and drying also removes the moisture they need.

Cooking only kills bacteria, it doesn't make the food immune to it. Let it sit out for a while and you've just made the food into bacteria heaven, ripe for recolonization.

Furthermore, fats actually soak up other substances out of their surroundings, generating bad tasting flavors; we call this going rancid.

So you see, there's a lot of room for interest and Fun here beyond just making sensible recipes to be cooked.

EDIT: My mistake, brining actually encourages fermentation (bacterial growth) which produces enough lactic acid to kill other bacteria, and make a sharp tangy flavor.

[Footkerchief]

Furthermore, fats actually soak up other substances out of their surroundings, generating bad tasting flavors; we call this going rancid.

While fats can absorb odors, rancidification primarily refers to certain chemical reactions that break down the fat itself.

[Jadael]

You're not disagreeing with what I said, I just used layman's phrasing. From Wikipedia: "In each case, these chemical reactions result in undesirable odors and flavors."

I didn't actually say they soak up odors.

[digdugdwarf]

I absolutely want to see aging (cheese, booze, ect.) what better place to age cheese and alcohol than in a cave? also it could be a nice quality enhancer like the opposite of the whole XXitemXX system maybe %item% or &item&