Analysis of Food Pairing in Some Eastern Mediterranean Countries

摘要

Each nationality has their special culinary practice, which was built by many generations that formed the cultural and historical print of the regional cuisine. Furthermore, nearby regional cuisines tend to learn from each other either due to communication or migration. The geographical closure for Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and Jordan made their culinary practice and dishes very similar. In this paper, we study the recipes and culinary practice of these four countries and then test the hypotheses of the food pairings that represent the compatibility of every pair of ingredients by finding their shared flavor compounds. Our analysis is considered at cuisines level, recipes, ingredients, and ingredients pair's level. Our study brings up the special features in each cuisine, and explores the similarities and differences between these cuisines by studying their deep culinary details. Comparing the food pairing hypothesis with real life paired ingredients in these cuisines shows the cuisines real fingerprints and whether, or not, they are different from theories. The experimental results showed that the food pairing hypothesis has been confirmed for the cuisines of Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Palestine, which suggests that people in this area combine ingredients that have matching flavor compounds.