Join Burlap & Barrel cofounder Ethan Frisch and Vietnamese pepper farmers Võ Ngọc Dũng and Thành Không Trắng for a conversation and tour of their pepper farm in central Vietnam. They'll discuss spice agriculture, spice sourcing, and the new model for the better spice trade that they're building together. Learn how black pepper is grown and harvested, how heirloom varieties are being lost under the commodity system, and what it means for you to source and cook with better spices.
This event will be held over zoom from 8-9 PM EST. You will receive the zoom link with your ticket confirmation.
For US residents, you have the option of adding the Burlap & Barrel Chef’s Choice Collection (6 spices) + a free jar of Ea Sar Black Pepper and a set of 2 Burlap & Barrel kitchen towels to your ticket purchase.
Spices in the Chef’s Choice Collection include Buffalo Ginger, Wild Mountain Cumin, Purple Stripe Garlic, Black Lime, Royal Cinnamon, and New Harvest Turmeric.
Ethan Frisch
Ethan is a native New Yorker, activist entrepreneur and the CoFounder of Burlap & Barrel, the first comprehensive single origin spice company in the US.
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, Restaurant After Hours, 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 has been an adjunct lecturer at the City College of New York and an adjunct Chef Instructor at the Institute for Culinary Education in New York City.
Võ Ngọc Dũng and Thành Không Trắng
Võ Ngọc Dũng (left) and Thành Không Trắng (right) are farmers and activists in Dak Lak, Vietnam.
They specialize in growing organic, heirloom crops, particularly black peppercorns and coffee. Their vine ripened purple peppercorns are especially prized by some of the best chefs in the world for their fruity sweet and spicy flavor.
They are proud members of the growing movement of young Vietnamese farmers rejecting commodity practices to grow heirloom ingredients sustainably using traditional organic and regenerative agricultural techniques.
This program was funded in part by Humanities New York with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.