The term "cook" for an unintended solution comes from chess problems, although no-one knows why it's called a "cook".

I didn't think about this when I wrote the post, but my prediction on page 1 (the world is destroyed and Belkar floats in space for ever) actually does provide a scenario where all the Oracle's Belkar prophecies would be fulfilled without his death. After all, if the world is gone, there's no more air, no cakes and no economy.