The results have been surprising. For example, chocolate and blue cheese share more than 70 flavor compounds (though that doesn’t mean I’ll be trying this brownie recipe anytime soon). Other combinations are perhaps more predictable: white wine and parmesan cheese, for instance, share a huge number of compounds – in fact, dairy products in general and fruits are close in flavor chemically to alcoholic drinks. Meanwhile, mushrooms, long understood as a scientific wonder, are isolated – they don’t share a statistically significant number of flavor compounds with anything.
Four researchers in the physics department at Northeastern University in Boston set out in 2011 to map out our flavor networks. They wanted to understand what patterns might appear in our food combinations and whether they can be attributed to anything other than individual taste.