Food Pairing: It's All about Balance

 Gardeners know a thing or two about companion planting, but what we know about "companion eating". Not as much as we could, apparently. Thanks to a Belgian website, what we don't know, we can learn.

According to the site, foods combine with each other when they have major flavor components in common. Some of the pairings might strike you as tempting and others revolting. One famous Belgian chocolatier was so inspired by the site's content, he invented a new praline in its honor: "chocolate-radish-chives-fresh cheese".

But the site's creator includes an important caveat: "This is just a tool to inspire you. You still need as a chef the craftsmanship, the experience,…to translate this inspiration into a good recipe. It is not only mixing two components together. The balance between the two is important".