Benjamin Kaestner III
Former Chief Spice Buyer at McCormick

The History Of Spices
October 4th at 1:30 pm
Town & Country Resort, Stowe
$5 per session
On Wednesday, October 4th, Benjamin (Hank) Kaestner III, former spice buyer at McCormick, will present the fifth Osher Lifelong Learning Institute lecture of the fall series on “The History Of Spices.” He will take us back to the dawn of civilization, as spice buying is the world’s second oldest profession! He will trace the use of spices by the early Chinese, the Romans, the Egyptians, following the Age of Exploration when the European powers discovered direct routes to the spice origins in India and southeast Asia.

Mr. Kaestner (Hank) joined McCormick & Co., Inc. in June of 1967, and spent his whole career there, beginning as a management trainee, and ending as Director of Spice Procurement for the spice giant. He was responsible for the procurement of spice raw materials, and made more than 150 trips back to source, visiting all of the major spice production areas of the world. This knowledge has resulted in Mr. Kaestner being considered one of the world’s foremost experts on spices. Tom Burns, former Executive Director of the American Spice Trade Association wrote: “Hank has traveled to most parts of the world where spices grow, in most cases more than once, and his knowledge of the people, the areas, and the spices is quite unique.” In 2010, Mr. Kaestner was inducted into the International Culinary Arts Hall of Fame.

Doors open at 1:00 pm. Refreshments follow lecture.

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