Food Pairing & Food Combining News, Articles, Commentary, Research and Information.
Resheachers have discovered that pairing "Peanut Butter" with "Whole Wheat" bread enables the body to get a better balance of amino acids. Diane Birt, PhD, a professor of food science at Iowa State University said “Wheat lacks some amino acids and peanuts have the amino acids lacking in wheat." Together they make a whole complete balanced amino acid source. “When your body is synthesizing proteins, it needs all the amino acids”.
Apples contain the flavonoid quercetin, and grapes contain catechin. Studies show that pairing the two compounds may improve cardiovascular health by making blood platelets less sticky so they don’t clump together and clog arteries. “The combination tends to have a mild anticoagulant effect,” says Barry Halliwell, PhD, nutrition professor at the National University of Singapore, who co-authored a study on quercetin and catechin. Leave the peel on the Apples, as a bulk of the antioxidants are in the peel.
The Mediterranean-style diet is an example of healthy food combinations because it includes several healthful food patterns. The diet is rich in plant foods, whole grains, legumes and fish; low in meat and dairy products; and contains more monounsaturated than saturated fats because of its emphasis on olives, olive oil, and walnuts. A recent study concluded that the Mediterranean diet may reduce the prevalence of cardiovascular risk. Another study found that a Mediterranean diet was associated with a 23% lower risk of early death from all causes.
Some food guidelines are common: eat local, eat organic, eat whole grains. And more and more nutritionists are paying more attention to foods that combine together well.
One restaurant, Rouge Tomate, has an on-staff nutritionist that makes sure that food ingredients used in Rouge Tomate's dishes are combined in a way that maximizes their health benefits. Nutritionist Natalia Rusin makes sure there’s an ingredient high in polyphenols, like grapes to combine with recipes containing fish, to help facilitate the body's absorption of Omega 3.
Wine and Food pairing Software developed for Epicurious
Building it took eight months and the result is a new computer-generated wine and food pairing service that uses cutting edge technology to answer an age-old question: What foods and wines should be paired to serve for dinner?
Andrea Immer Robinson is a master at pairing food and wine. The Dean of wine studies at the French Culinary Institute gives wine and food pairing tips and recipes.
Tea is often put into the same category as coffee. So it makes sense that some people pairing tea with foods will refer to what works well with coffee. However, most tea lovers tire of the limited choices (pastries and biscotti) available under this comparison. The most effective way to approach this subject is not through coffee, rather through another gourmet product known for its complementary nature: wine.