Ethan Frisch and his Grandpa Stanleigh's Hungarian Chicken Fricassee

Today’s guest on Babushka Podcast is Ethan Frisch, co-founder of Burlap & Barrel Spices: an ethically-sourced, singe-origin spice company beloved by all your favorite restaurants and food writers. Ethan knows more about spices than anyone I've ever met - one might even call him a spice guru. But before we get into the details of today's show...

Ethan and I recorded this episode a couple weeks ago, before the COVID-19 pandemic had reached its current levels and life was, relatively speaking, normal. Not only does Ethan’s life revolves around visiting countries like Afghanistan and India to source spices + set up supply chains for spice farmers - but a huge chunk of Burlap & Barrel's business is comprised of supplying spices to restaurants. Which means that the forced restaurant closures in light of COVID-19 have caused Burlap & Barrel to lose a major chunk of their business. However, their e-commerce is still up and running so if you can, please support Burlap & Barrel by ordering spices online! I'm a huge fan of the Wild Mountain Cumin, Black Urfa Chili, and Smoked Pimentón Paprika, to name a few.

In today's episode, we chat about Ethan’s unlikely and abrupt foray into line-cooking after a brief stint in the political space, his feelings about calamari, and a previous entrepreneurial venture involving activism and…ice cream??

Lastly, Ethan tells us about his Grandpa Stanleigh's entrepreneurial spirit as well as his recipe for Hungarian Chicken Fricassee.

Find Burlap & Barrel:

On Instagram: @burlapandbarrel

Online: burlapandbarrel.com

You can find Ethan:

Via email: ethan@burlapandbarrelspices

Or through his Heritage Radio podcast: Why Food