Your food with the basic knowledge of drinks

　　
　　When discussing pairing drinks with food recently, a friend said to me, "pairing in general is completely subjective and bogus. In reality, perception and attitude have far more to do with a successful pairing than flavor anyway."
What an interesting idea! But I don't agree. Sure, perception is different for everyone, and sure, your expectations will shape how anything you eat or drink tastes. But we shouldn't discard the idea of pairing because of that—there's just too much deliciousness to lose.
Pairing Isn't Snobby, You Do It All the Time
I'd like to dispel the myth that those who think about which beverages will go best with their food are snobs, that thinking about pairing is only for people who hold their pinkies up when they drink tea. As food lovers, we think about pairing all the time.
Let's say you have a brownie. It's deep and chocolaty and just a little sweet. You could put a scoop of ice cream on it, or a drizzle of hot fudge. You could add some berries, or a raspberry sauce, or a little salted caramel, or quite a few other delicious things. But would you add garlicky pesto? Would you add tomato-and-onion salsa? Would you add melted cheddar cheese? Probably not. The flavors wouldn't taste good together; that pesto would ruin your brownie, and the other way around. What a waste.
It's not snobby to want what you eat and what you drink to taste good together. When you season a dish, or add a sauce, you're thinking about combining flavors that taste good together. You add a squeeze of lime to balance a dish, or you add a pinch of cumin. There's not just one way to spice your chili, and there's not just one drink to pair with your french fries (Milkshakes? Of course. Sparkling wine? Totally.)
But it's worth taking two seconds to think about whether a particular drink will go with what you're eating, whether it will make the food taste better, and whether it will make the drink taste better, or whether both will be diminished. If you like food, it makes sense that you'd want to improve it with what you're drinking. And that's where the miraculous happens: sometimes flavors in solid form and flavors in liquid form come together to create a third, delicious, set of flavors, bringing out something you wouldn't taste if you hadn't tried them together.
Drink What You Like
People often say, "Just drink what you like, forget about the rules."
Sure. If you hate a certain drink, you likely won't love it with your food. (Though a great combination might surprise you.) But take 'drinking what you like' as a first step, and then think about when to drink it.

　　What're you drinking with that raw fish? [Photograph: Cue in the Sun on Shutterstock]
Say you have a bottle of your favorite Cabernet in the fridge. Fantastic! But should you drink it the night you're having lamb chops, or the night you're having sushi? Chances are one combination will make you say 'wow,' and compliment the cook, and the other might feel a little fishy.