At just 30 years old, Brooke Johnson is already carving out a niche in Sarasota’s culinary scene. As the cheesemonger at Morton’s Gourmet Market, she spends her days curating artisan cheeses from around the world and helping customers find the perfect wedge for a snack, recipe, or show-stopping charcuterie board. But her ambitions extend far beyond the cheese counter.
Originally from Ohio, Brooke’s first hands-on food experience came while working at Jungle Jim’s International Market, a sprawling global food bazaar in Cincinnati. She later attended culinary school at Sullivan University in Kentucky and worked professionally as a chef, including a stint at the Kentucky Derby. After visiting Sarasota several times on vacation, she fell for the city’s charm and vibrant restaurant scene, and shortly after the pandemic she made the move south.
Three years ago, Morton’s hired her to manage the cheese department.
“I didn’t have much knowledge about cheese at all,” she confesses, “but I had a passion to learn, so I started researching on my own and absorbing everything I could.”
A typical day begins with inspecting dates on cheeses and placing orders, followed by cutting, grating, and portioning wedges. She also prepares popular house-made spreads like whipped feta with hot honey, whipped ricotta topped with seasonal citrus or figs, and “Louisville Benedictine”—a creamy cucumber spread inspired by her work at Derby events. She has embraced the growing popularity of charcuterie boards, creating everything from simple $20 snack trays to elaborate $300 grazing displays.
“I didn’t have much knowledge about cheese at all,” she confesses, “but I had a passion to learn, so I started researching on my own and absorbing everything I could.”
Brooke is especially passionate about supporting small artisan cheesemakers, including Iowa’s Milton Creamery—a small Mennonite-run farm whose nutty Prairie Breeze cheddar is her current favorite—and California’s Cypress Grove, known for its exceptional goat cheeses. Another standout she loves featuring is Tennessee’s Sequatchie Cove Creamery, whose Shakerag Blue is wrapped in fig leaves soaked in Chattanooga whiskey.
Locally, she collaborates with small producers like Sunshine Canning for jams and Mandy’s Microgreens for edible flowers and greens used on charcuterie boards and in spreads.
When she’s not at Morton’s, Brooke works part-time as a pastry chef under Chef Steve Phelps at Indigenous, a restaurant she long admired and finally “got up the nerve” to apply to. The two roles often overlap in unexpected ways.
“I take cheeses in and bounce ideas off the chefs,” she says. “And some of the techniques I learn in the kitchen I bring back to the spreads I make at the market. It’s kind of like cross-training.”
Ultimately, she hopes to help build a stronger collaborative network among chefs, farmers, and artisans. “You can’t get anywhere if you don’t have community,” she says.
Her long-range dream is to move to Switzerland and start a small farm with goats and sheep, producing her own cheese. Until then, she’s happy doing what she does best: learning something new every day and sharing it with Sarasota’s growing community of cheese lovers.
