Ethan Frisch is the co-founder of Burlap & Barrel, the first (and only) comprehensive single origin spice company in the US. Burlap & Barrel works directly with smallholder farmers around the world to source unique, beautiful spices for professional chefs and home cooks. Ethan leads Burlap & Barrel’s sourcing, supply chains and partnerships with spice farmers in a dozen countries, from Afghanistan to Zanzibar. He was recently included in Food & Wine Magazine’s Innovator’s Issue 2020.

Ethan has worked in kitchens as a line cook and pastry chef in New York and London, and as the chef behind Guerrilla Ice Cream. He left kitchens to become a humanitarian aid worker, and worked with NGOs including the Aga Khan Foundation in Afghanistan, Maries Stopes in Sierra Leone, and Doctors Without Borders on the Syrian/Jordanian border. He is honored to serve on the Boards of Directors of the Bond Street Theatre, which uses theater to teach conflict resolution and resilience in areas of instability around the world, Restaurant After Hours, addressing the mental health crisis in the restaurant industry, and the student-led racial literacy and justice organization CHOOSE, as well as on the Advisory Board of Fragments Theater, a youth theater company in Palestine. 

He holds a dual Bachelor’s Degree in Conflict Studies and Education and Social Change from the City University of New York, and a Master’s Degree in Violence, Conflict and Development from the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies.