CULINARY CREATIVITY BY MARIA WAGNER

One of the ways I feel most creative is when I cook. I love trying foods from all different parts of the world and trying to recreate these dishes on my own. I love adding new ingredients and trying new things when I am cooking to adapt recipes to be even better than before. I love experimenting with different flavors and seeing which unexpected ingredients go well together. I am also a firm believer that sriracha can make almost anything taste better.
My current inspiration comes from Pinterest, the food network, or simply curiosity. However, one day I hope to travel more of the world to try new food and learn more about the culture. I feel that experiencing new cultures and food in these cultures will help me to learn about new ingredients and new ways to prepare different meals.
While studying abroad, I took a food and wine pairing class. In this class, I learned how to make traditional Italian dishes and tried different wines with each dish. This really inspired me after I got back to the United States. I cooked these recipes and added my own favorite ingredients to make them better. Pictured below are some of the dishes I made.
One of my favorite dishes we made was spaghetti with clams. Although it appears to be basic Italian ingredients of spaghetti, clams, parsley, and olive oil, I tried to make the recipe even better, I added lemon zest to give the pasta a sweet, lemon taste. To balance the sweetness with spiciness, I added fresh chili peppers to give the taste a little kick.