Why do we need comfort food?

The scariest thing about carbohydrates are that they are fortune tellers. Predicters of the future. When I ingest a box of mac n' cheese, it predicts for me that yes, I will have gained two pounds by the morning.

When we're all adding this artery-clogging cheapie staple to our diets, it's all too revealing that the U.S. is headed for economic ruin and we're going to shove comfort food in our faces while we crash and burn. Why? Because this easy, cheesy meal was first introduced during the Great Depression in 1937, when people were trying to find inexpensive substitutions for dairy and meat. Well, maybe the situation isn't quite so dire, but it's an interesting correlation.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, single-serve microwaveable Easy Mac cups experienced a 50 percent rise in sales for the year. Not only does this make me concerned about our fiscal well being, but I want to know how many poor single people are nuking this no-nutrient dish and eating it alone while standing up in the kitchen. It's just how I picture the scenario.

So put down the starch and have a salad, please. Maybe even set the table, even if it's just for yourself. Don't crap out on me now! Most of you reading are no longer in college and we're not in a recession yet. And don't tell me you can't totally afford a Lean Cuisine when they're on sale for $2 a pop at Target. Like that's any better with all the sodium in those frozen goodies. Then we'll just be a puffy nation that for some reason can't quite figure out how our rings don't fit anymore....at least we'll be eating better than corn syrup solids and partially hydrogenated oils.

Blue cheese + beetroot = coming to a chic eatery near you

Foodies take note - there is a new site called Foodpairing that allows you to explore food flavor networks and in turn, discover new recipe combos that might be the next big thing.

The site features 250 food products and their pairs via a visual map of branches that sort out flavors that share the same tastes and genetic food makeup. I think this is pretty cool - see what Josh Spear has to say.

The site encourages users to make new recipes by combining foods that have flavors in common. It even features an option to send in your recipe to recipe@foodpairing.be if you happen to come across something new and great. Maybe now we won't need a celebrity chef to tell us what is new and hip?

And those with a hit-or-miss spice rack (like me!) will enjoy the interchangeable foods section, which details best substitutes for herbs and spices. They base it on the idea that a food product has a specific flavor because of a combination of other different flavors, such as basil, which has a combination of linalool (so does corinader) and estragol (so does tarragon.) They say you can reconstruct the taste of basil by combining coriander, tarragon, cloves, laurel. Lot of work, but very cool!

I'm wondering if this site will guide an amateur bartender like myself to new creations. With all the trendy savory martinis out there lately, I was curious where "rosemary" might lead me. Turns out that basil, sage, all spice and nutmeg are pretty compatible, but so is peppermint and mandarin orange. That all sounds very interesting and worth a try with some top-shelf vodka.

So for better, or for worse, we now know that not only does coffee and raspberry taste great with chocolate - so would a radish or grilled pigeon. Shudder.