Tomatoes, potatoes, and hot peppers, all originally from South or Central America, are among several plants that have disproportionately influenced cooking around the world. This happened only after a few intrepid eaters got beyond common fears about potatoes, tomatoes, and other products. Entrepreneurial hunters for new food products hardly knew what they were haggling for when they tried to extract from foreign markets goods that would sell well at home. Shuttling between Europe and exotic lands, Italians, Spaniards, and Britons in particular brought back food prototypes that were not obviously good things to eat-cinnamon bark, cousins of the dreaded nightshade (tomatoes), and even the pollen from a crocus flower (saffron). As a glance at international cookbooks will show, many creative merchants were well rewarded not just with financial success, but with culture-changing influence