Olivier Roellinger ranks among the finest chefs of contemporary cuisine. He runs the Michelin-starred Relais & Chéteau Les Maisons de Bricourt in Brittany, France. Inspired by his region's maritime heritage, links with the French East India Company, and tales of piracy and swashbuckling adventure, Roellinger has developed a fresh approach to French cuisine. He asserts that an unquenchable quest for new ingredients has kept French cuisine world class since the 17th century, and has spurred harmonies between local ingredients and exotic imports, such as lamb and beans, fish and potatoes, or lobster and tomatoes. Roellinger hails the explorers who imported bell peppers, pineapples, cloves, cumin, artichokes, and even tomatoes, once feared to be deadly, and recounts the tales that led these ingredients to our tables. Roellinger's signature dish, scallops with the fourteen exotic spices used in eighteenth-century Brittany, epitomizes the culinary melting pot of contemporary French cuisine.