Samir is a traditionally trained chef who works as the sous chef in an exclusive restaurant in Manhattan, but when he learns he's been turned down for an expected promotion, he leaves in a huff and isn't asked to return. Samir considers heading for Europe to attend a culinary academy, but his plans quickly change when he learns that his father has suffered a severe heart attack and someone needs to look after the family business, a dingy Indian restaurant...

"Some food historians say that 1491 to 1493 are the years the world began in terms of food, that is. Prior to 1492, eight plants -- corn, beans, squash, chile, tomato, potato, vanilla, and cacao -- existed only in the Americans. Italy didn't have the tomato; Ireland didn't have the potato, nor Russia the vodka distilled from it; and there were no chiles in South Asia. When these ingredients crossed the ocean, they drastically transformed the way the...