Food and beverage flavour pairing: A critical review of the literature

Abstract

The recent explosion of interest in the topic of flavour pairing has been driven, at least in part, by the now-discredited food-pairing hypothesis, along with the emergence of the new field of computational gastronomy. Many chefs, sommeliers, mixologists, and drinks brands, not to mention a few food brands, have become increasingly interested in moving the discussions that they have with their consumers beyond the traditional focus solely on food and wine pairings.Here, two key approaches to pairing that might help to explain/justify those food and beverage combinations that the consumer is likely to appreciate are outlined. Historically-speaking, many conventional pairings emerged naturally from cultural/geographical matches, presumably internalized as semantic knowledge amongst consumers. In this review, such conventional pairings are framed as but one example of a cognitive/intellectual food-beverage strategy. The alternative approach to pairing that has become increasingly popular in recent years involves experts/commentators making recommendations based on the perceptual relationship, or interaction, between the component stimuli, be it one of perceived similarity, contrast, harmony, emergence, or modulation (either suppression or enhancement).Physicochemical accounts of pairing, based on the presence of shared flavour molecules (e.g., aromatic volatiles) in the to-be-combined flavours or ingredients, have also gained in popularity. Here, though, the latter approach is framed as an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to predict matches based on perceived similarity. This review summarizes the available evidence concerning food-beverage pairing and proposes a new dichotomy between intellectual/cognitive and perceptual pairing principles in the case of food-beverage matching.

Expertise Shapes Multimodal Imagery for Wine

“…Wine experts work with wines on a daily basis and odors and tastes are particularly important. For example, wine experts often create wine‐food pairings, imagining how the tastes and textures of food match those of a wine (Harrington, 2005; Spence, 2020). In addition, when recognizing and interpreting wines, experts recall specific prototypes of wines (Hughson & Boakes, 2002), which may be seen as a form of imagery.…”

Multisensory Flavour Perception: Blending, Mixing, Fusion, and Pairing within and between the Senses

“…It is interesting to note here how what was traditionally restricted to something that one might come across with a wine pairing at a fancy restaurant has now been extended to a wide range of pairings [29,30], including everything from beer and food [74,75], tea/coffee and cheese/chocolate [76] all the way through to even more esoteric pairings. Although falling beyond the scope of the present review, it is worth noting that Spence [31] has recently argued that the majority of flavour pairing principles that have been articulated by those working in the field can, in fact, be reduced to a number of perceptual pairing principles (see Table 1).…”

“…First, I briefly review the literature on the perceptual consequences of blending and mixing [28], as well as highlighting the continued/increasing popularity of fusion foods [2,11] and flavour pairing [29][30][31]. One of the questions that will be discussed concerns whether there are any rules/guidelines that may help those wanting to deliver novel flavour experiences/food products by combining more or less familiar elements in future food experiences [30,31]. In the latter part of the review, I will then take the findings regarding the pairing of flavours and consider whether the same perceptual outcomes may provide a meaningful framework for understanding what happens when flavours/foods are deliberately paired with particular music/soundscapes.…”

“…There has been an explosion of interest in the topic of flavour pairing in recent years [31]. It is interesting to note here how what was traditionally restricted to something that one might come across with a wine pairing at a fancy restaurant has now been extended to a wide range of pairings [29,30], including everything from beer and food [74,75], tea/coffee and cheese/chocolate [76] all the way through to even more esoteric pairings.…”

“…Table 1. Approaches to flavour pairing according to Spence [31]. This table highlights the suggested division of food-beverage pairing approaches into two main categories, with examples of each, and relevant comments, where appropriate.…”