Fig 6. Cumulative probability distribution of $N_s^R$ values for regional cuisines and their random controls.

Cumulative distribution of $N_s^R$ indicates the probability of finding a recipe having food pairing less than or equal to $N_s^R$. The data of regional cuisines as well as those of their controls were fitted with a sigmoid equation indicating that the $P(N_s^R)$ values fall exponentially. The exponent α Eq (1) refers to the rate of decay; larger the α more prominent is the negative food pairing in recipes of a cuisine. As evident from S2 Table, $N_s^R$ distribution of the controls based on ‘Ingredient Frequency’ as well as ‘Category + Frequency’ displayed recipe level food pairing similar to real-world cuisines. On the other hand, as also observed at the level of cuisine (Figs 4 and 5), both the ‘Random Control’ as well as ‘Ingredient Category’ control deviate significantly.