I am reminded of a documentary I once saw about women's prisons. Apparently some of the women have a strong desire to cook—one could almost call it a need or a compulsion—even when they don't have access to a stove or to normal ingredients. They will find a way to cook something even when they are limited to a microwave oven and stuff they can buy out of vending machines. One of the women had invented a recipe that consisted mainly of—if I remember correctly—crushed cheese puffs and milk (and maybe some other ingredients I have forgotten) cooked in a microwave. The women prisoners all tasted it and pronounced it good—but I can only attribute this to their desperate desire to do something creative with food.

Maybe an impulse like that lies behind the creation of some of the recipes mentioned in this thread.