Database structure advice needed

could get large...

[Distel]

Let's suppose I run a food-related site. I need to set up a database which allows me to create a large amount of combinations. For example, each column in a table corresponds to a method of food preparation (fry, cook, barbecue, ...), and each row corresponds to a type of food (meat, potatoes, ...). By cross-referencing both, and using values of "Y" and "N" in each table cell, I'll be able to come up with combinations like "fried potatoes" or "baked meat".
I've never worked with "large" databases before, and I'm wondering if this one would get too large. The amount of rows is likely to go beyond 1000, which I know is no problem at all for MySQL, but the number of columns is likely to exceed that number as well. So:

1. Could this be a problem?
2. Is there a better way to do this?

Thanks.

[NickCoons]

This depends on what type of queries you're going to be using. For instance, is someone going to be entering a cooking method and a food type, and then receiving a "Y" or "N" answer as to whether or not that's a possibility? Are they going to be entering a food type and receive all of the cooking methods? Are they going to enter a cooking method and receive the food types?

[Distel]

I'm gonna try a different approach, as I have found some issues which will make this setup hard to use for my site. Thanks anyway.