Perfect Pairings

Over years of covering wine in Asia, one touchy subject that never grows stale is the challenge of pairing wine with Asian food. I confess I’m conflicted myself, and have occasionally got in hot water with a glib comment to the effect that it’s a waste of time.

I don’t mean that we in Asia shouldn’t enjoy food and wine together, or that trying to understand how different Asian cuisines pair with wine isn’t a fascinating and worthwhile endeavour. I mean that the wholesale application of European pairing principles to Asian meals mostly just results in anxiety, confusion, and a rapid regression to beer drinking.

One aspect of this discussion that raises tensions is the concept of “Asian food” as one thing, as if anything you could say about Indian food would also apply to Japanese food (never mind that I’ve just irritated even more people by implying “Indian food”