The number of dishes in the world is uncountable. Some estimate millions.
For most of human history, people knew little about these dishes. Unable to travel farther than they could walk, humans lacked much awareness beyond their immediate surroundings. Modern technologies in transportation, communications, and cooking give us knowledge of foods that our ancestors never imagined.
And yet, even with these advances, the world remains too vast for any one of us to know much of it. The most voracious eater will try less than 1% of the world’s dishes in their lifetime…