I've often said that taste is not objective, it's subjective. Now, I think potatoes are a food that goes with nearly everything, but others may disagree. On the other hand I don't think cheese is good on much of anything but many, many others do. I like fruit with meat, Ann T does not. I like my French toast savory, others like it sweet. It's all a matter of taste.

So, I don't think you'll find such an article and if you did, there would be a big argument over the accuracy.

Annie

I agree with Annie.

Not only taste is subjective, tastes can be acquired. You can learn to like many oddball tastes and flavor combinations.

dcarch
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I like mint in savoury dishes like tabouleh and in England we add it to the cooking water of peas and new potates and then we eat mint sauce with lamb.

I did a google search out of curiosity and bumped into food pairing:

"Foodpairing is a method for identifying which foods go well together. The method is based on the principle that foods combine well with one another when they share key flavor components. Foodpairing is a relatively new method and is often confused with wine and food matching. By contrast, foodpairing uses HPLC, gas chromatography and other laboratory methods to analyse food and to find chemical components that they have in common.
Not to be confused with protein combination theory for vegetarians and vegans."

This is from Wiki. Link attached. The Wiki entry also contains links to various online articles.

Here is a link that might be useful: Food Pairing

Herbs are not food really. Paired with food to add interest and flavor. So you will find 'pairings' by googling 'food and herb combinations'. All come from different cultures and what they had in their past histories, then trade and value happened. So really what you want is a comprehensive history of food. A world view 'Encyclopedia of food'. Fascinating when looking at exploration, shipping, and trade.
Is tofu food? (kidding). It is just neutral in flavor and a protein. I think you are correct that it 'pairs' with everything.
Or maybe you were just using mint as an odd example. I adore summer savory with seafood and tarragon with a grilled steak.
When i come across something i'm not familiar with from an ethnic market, i search the history of its use, then dig into recipes.
I make a favorite ginger toasted sesame salad dressing but not with a meal that uses alot of basil or a lasagna.
Thanksgiving, in fact, should not work. But it is our history and memory of combinations. No other meal the rest of the year do i make such combinations to fit on one plate, then make a sandwich the next day with the entire plate on a dinner roll, lol.

The love of coconut and rum used on the island cultures of the NorthAtlantic.
The history of food is where you will get your answers. It has been written. In every recipe, in every cookbook...and why we often make adjustments to a recipe to suit our taste.

Food pairings are very much subjective, and I object to a whole slew of them. I hate coconut in curries and also abhor most sweet things that find their way into meat dishes - especially fruit. People put all kinds of sweet fruits on ham, and I won't touch it. The absolute worst pizza is ham and pineapple (which I love separately), but there are people who eat it.

Certain cuisines have more acceptable (to me) food combinations, such as Italian, Greek, Cajun, Mexican, Sichuan, and Japanese (except for their curry), and others have combinations that I consistently avoid - especially Philippino, and some of its neighbors. Some cuisines have a few dishes that I love and a few that I hate, such as Thai, Indian, Persian, and Jamaican. I will go to those restaurants but be very careful what I order.

There are no universal rules about what goes with what because there will be exceptions to every rule and nothing will please everyone.

Here are some pairings I do NOT like:
nutmeg in spinach
cinnamon in curry
Waldorf Salad (bad mix all around)
and there are a few herbs/spices that I just don't care for, such as tarragon and star anise, although I can handle them in minute amounts. I love cilantro, however, and many people hate that.

Once I was on the Fillmore bus in San Francisco, and I happened to start talking with the woman sitting next to me and told her that I had just made my grandmother a lavender silk blouse for her birthday. The woman said to me, "That's perfect! Lavender goes with everything!" and I tried to imagine what this woman's wardrobe looked like.

Lars

I have a book called Culinary Artistry by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page. It has many suggestions for things that will go well together. It also talks about contrast between ingredients. You may find it useful.