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The essence of flavor is MSG and always has been. Japanese call this "umami" and our taste buds are sensitive to it. If you're wondering, MSG is not poisonous and doesn't cause health issues. It is isolated from natural sources. Go buy some from the store and taste it and you'll instantly know what the flavor is that makes food taste good.

The French found out you could create that flavor by browning meat and veggies and then boiling it down. They also found the combination of celery, onions and carrots created that flavor.

Meanwhile, in Japan and Korea, they were using a certain type of seaweed and fish flakes to create a more potent version of the flavor.

The ancient Romans would catch smaller fish, ferment them in salt, and then isolate the juices creating a potent concoction of the flavor called "garum". If you're wondering, the fishermen that Jesus recruited as apostles were almost certainly fishing for fish to be made into garum. There's powerful symbolism in there. The Roman trade network was basically garum, wine and olive oil. Today, you can buy a version of Roman garum as worcester sauce.

Indian food does not have this flavor because they couldn't figure it out. Because they couldn't get the flavor, they had to use a combination of spices. Sometimes you get some of the flavor with sun-dried peppers and such or fermented foods like yogurt and cheese, but it is not as powerful.

Beef has the flavor compared to pork or chicken. Sheep has some of the flavor too.

No, you don't need spices. Spices don't actually bring much to the table except some strange smells and sometimes a little bit of the umami flavor. The people who think they like hot food really like the umami flavor. It's found in a lot of chili sauces, especially ones from Mexico (sun dried peppers and fermenting) and southeast asia (they use fish sauces there.)

Go eat some raw MSG. Once you do you'll understand 99% of what cooking really is.