I know I post some esoteric stuff and this one is probably as out there as anything I've posted before. I'm not going to pretend that I understand it yet. Different cultures create recipes with similar, complementary or contrasting flavors. When creating drinks or liqueurs one could use this research to bring in ingredients that create new and unexpected mixtures. Post up if you use this for something interesting. I think it could be the basis of some cool stuff.
The cultural diversity of culinary practice, as illustrated by the variety of regional cuisines, raises the question of whether there are any general patterns that determine the ingredient combinations used in food today or principles that transcend individual tastes and recipes. We introduce a flavor network that captures the flavor compounds shared by culinary ingredients. Western cuisines show a tendency to use ingredient pairs that share many flavor compounds, supporting the so-called food pairing hypothesis. By contrast, East Asian cuisines tend to avoid compound sharing ingredients. Given the increasing availability of information on food preparation, our data-driven investigation opens new avenues towards a systematic understanding of culinary practice.
