“We’re so used to thinking of spices as powders in our kitchen cabinet, not something that comes from a plant grown by a farmer. Freshness and origin aren’t things that people consider, and I don’t have a good explanation for why that is except to say because that’s the way it’s always been.”

Hoping to change that, in 2017, he launched Burlap & Barrel, a single-origin spice company based in New York City. Frisch works directly with farmers to source the freshest and most interesting local spice varietals around the world, from lip-smackingly tart cured sumac from Gaziantep, Turkey, to Egyptian desert fennel so licoricey-sweet it tastes like candy. His spices, which sometimes sell out days after going on sale online, are now used in kitchens run by the likes of Daniel Humm, Danny Bowien and David Chang.

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