Wine and cheese. Sour cream and salsa. A burger and fries. Humanity’s age-old preoccupation with food pairing is turning a new corner — and fostering some very strange new plate-fellows — as scientists and chefs try to make sense of an idea called “flavor-pairing theory.” That controversial theory about why some foods taste good together is the topic of an article in the current edition of Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society.
