“If it grows together, it goes together” (food and wine adage)

“It it grows together, it goes together” is a philosophy or wine and food pairings. Food and wine from a certain region (and from a certain season) should be served together, according to this rule.
 
“Remember God’s law: the things what grows together, goes together” was cited in print in 1981. “The rule, according to food writer Patricia Wells: What grows together goes together” was cited in print in 1995.
 
   
Google News Archive
11 November 1981, Edmonton (Alberta) Journal, “Flash In The Pan? Not James Barber: by Judy Schultz, pg. E3, col. 3:
Regarding the artistic combination of ingredients in your own kitchen, Barber says, “Remember God’s law: the things what grows together, goes together.”
 
Google Groups: rec.food.cooking
Spices and their uses
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8/7/94
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A good general rule for herbs is “if it grows together, it goes together.”  An example of this would be tomatoes and basil.  The seasons are basically the same.  Actually, any of the “Italian” herbs—basil, oregano, rosemary, go quite well any of the summer produce.
   
Google Books
Working Woman
Volume 20
Pg. 285:
On matching cheeses with wines, keep your countries aligned. The rule, according to food writer Patricia Wells: What grows together goes together.
 
Google Books
Patricia Wells at Home in Provence:
Recipes Inspired by Her Farmhouse in France
By Patricia Wells
New York, NY: Scribner
1996
Pg. 15:
Follow the elementary rule, “What grows together goes together,” meaning the lamb that grazes in fields of wild herbs will naturally taste best enhanced with local rosemary, thyme, and summer savory.
 
New York (NY) Times
December 3, 2000
Cooking  
By CORBY KUMMER
(...)
These are some of the precepts that can lead you too to THINK LIKE A CHEF (Clarkson Potter, $37.50). If Tom Colicchio, the highly regarded chef of New York’s Gramercy Tavern (and the recently opened Craft), doesn’t make it to the top of a mountain many have already tried to scale, he still provides a few new handholds.
 
No one could go far wrong following one of Colicchio’s favorite maxims, ‘‘If it grows together, it goes together.’‘
 
Google Books
The Paris Cookbook
By Patricia Wells
New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers
2001
Pg. 242:
Of course the almonds are still raw then and need more time on the tree, but since I go by the rule that “what grows together goes together,”
   
Google Books
Molto Italiano:
327 Simple Italian Recipes to Cook at Home
By Mario Batali
New York, NY: Harper Collins Publishers
2005
Pg. 8:
Maybe you’ve heard the expression “If it grows together, it goes together” and thought it either mere cliche or incomprehensible, but in reality, if you’ve traveled much in Italy, you’ve experienced it firsthand: ...
 
Google Books
Working the Plate:
The Art of Food Presentation
By Christopher Styler
Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons
2006
Pg. 106:
“If it grows together, it goes together,” an axiom used by wine enthusiasts to describe the affinity between the wines and cuisine of a particular region, applies to these plates.
 
30 November 2006, Syracuse (NY) Post-Standard, Central New York Magazine (November/December), pg. 141:
Eamon Lee
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BEST-KEPT COOKING SECRET: “Honey, fresh thyme, duck fat and the philosophy if ‘it grows together, it goes together.’ There’s no improving on Mother Nature.”
 
eGullet Forums
If It Grows Together, It Goes Together
Started by Peter the eater , Oct 20 2008 06:40 AM
I’ve heard this idea before: what grows together goes together.
This is a fundamental concept in Sally Schneider’s The Improvisational Cook. She calls it the “first step in understanding flavor”.
   
Brock Eats
Stranger in a Strange Land: Bitters
November 9, 2010
(...)
The food rule is if it grows together, it goes together (of which I can think of about a thousand exceptions: corn and tobacco salad, anyone? I thought not).
   
The Daily Meal
Easy-Peasy 2-Ingredient Summer Salads
It’s too hot to cook, so just toss these together with a simple vinaigrette and you’re good to go
By Jessica Chou, Editor
Jul 29, 2013 @ 10:20 AM
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“There’s an old saying that’s used for food and wine pairing, which is, ‘If it grows together, it goes together,’” Yonan said. The same applies here. “If they’re in season at the same time in the same part of the country, it’ll pair… like corn and tomatoes are naturally obviously really good together.”