A professional perspective on intuition, creativity, and human skill
We live in a time where almost everything can be automated.
Recipes are generated in seconds.
Menus can be planned by software.
AI can tell us what flavours “should” work together.
And yet, in professional kitchens — especially when cooking plant-based food — something essential is quietly being lost.
Modern plant-based cooking does not suffer from a lack of information.
It suffers from a lack of intuition.
Cooking is not data — it’s a human skill
Cooking has always been a bodily practice before it was a technical one.
Long before recipes were written down, people learned by:
- tasting
- adjusting
- responding
- trusting their senses
In recent years, plant-based cooking has become increasingly formulaic.
Replace this with that.
Follow these ratios.
Add this final flourish.
While tools and guidance can be helpful, they cannot replace the most important skill a cook develops over time: judgment.
Judgment cannot be downloaded.
It is learned slowly, through attention.
Intuition is not guesswork — it’s experience embodied
There’s a misconception that intuitive cooking means being vague or unstructured.
In reality, it’s the opposite.
Intuition is what happens when experience settles into the body.
It’s knowing when something needs more time — not because a timer says so, but because it feels unfinished.
It’s adjusting seasoning based on context, not measurement.
It’s responding to ingredients as they are, not as a recipe imagined them.
This matters even more in plant-based cooking, where ingredients behave differently every day:
- vegetables change with the season
- textures shift with freshness
- flavours respond to handling, not just heat
No machine can replace that conversation between cook and food.
Creativity comes from restraint, not excess
One of the biggest myths around modern plant-based cooking is that it needs to be complex to be impressive.
More elements.
More substitutions.
More techniques layered on top of one another.
In practice, the most memorable food is often the most restrained.
Creativity emerges when we:
- stop adding
- start listening
- allow ingredients to speak clearly
This kind of cooking requires confidence — and patience.
It also requires a willingness to step away from constant external validation and trust your own sensory intelligence.
Why this matters now, in the age of AI
As machines become better at generating answers, the value of human skill increases.
AI can suggest flavour pairings.
It cannot taste.
AI can optimise systems.
It cannot hold space.
AI can replicate patterns.
It cannot develop intuition.
In kitchens, in studios, and in teaching spaces, I see a growing hunger for something slower and more grounded — a return to cooking as a craft rather than a performance.
This isn’t nostalgia.
It’s relevance.
Teaching intuition, not just technique
At Terra Sensa, my focus is not on teaching people what to cook.
It’s on teaching them how to:
- trust their senses
- make decisions without constant instruction
- cook responsively rather than mechanically
This approach asks more of the cook.
But it also gives more back.
It builds confidence that travels across cuisines, contexts, and careers — long after specific recipes are forgotten.
The future of plant-based cooking is deeply human
Modern plant-based cooking doesn’t require more technology.
It requires more presence.
More attention.
More listening.
More respect for food as a living material rather than a problem to be solved.
In a world increasingly shaped by automation, cooking remains one of the few places where human intuition still matters deeply.
That is not something to optimise away.
It is something to protect, practice, and pass on.
