Food pairing

There is a popular article about food pairing: http://www.nature.com/articles/srep00196

The article says that Western cuisines show a tendency to use ingredient pairs that share many flavour compounds, supporting the so-called food pairing hypothesis. By contrast, East Asian cuisines tend to avoid compound sharing ingredients.

But the "food pairing hypothesis" was actually confuted in this sensory test: https://jcunieuws.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/food-pairing.pdf

I am wondering if any progress has been done lately in this field.

In Tuscany, the region I am originally from, we combine these foods:

• Prosciutto e Melone (Italian Ham and Melon)
• Salame e Fichi (Tuscany Salami and Figs)
• Pane e Uva (Bread and Grapes)
• Cacio e Pere (Pecorino Toscano cheese and Pears)