Article by Peter Roos
Tampa Bay Markets has NEWS! In addition to The Corey Sunday Market, they were asked to restart the Wednesday Morning Market on Madeira Way in “downtown Madeira Beach.” The smaller footprint works well for a “maker’s market” with a changing variety of vendors offering arts, crafts, specialty foods and lots more, 10am-2pm Wednesdays.
This month Chef Kevin Johnson of Crooked Johnson Meats is highlighted. He grew up in a family that loved to travel and cook. In Charleston, South Carolina he experienced local seafood prepared in the Gullah Geechee culture. “Fishing and cooking was something we did each week.”
During high school his first job was baking bread at a diner in Cape Canaveral. He was Chef at Ulysses’s Prime Steakhouse until his journey returned him to the Cypress in downtown Charleston. Working under Chef Craig Deihl and CDC Bob Cook he developed a love for the versatility of pork and charcuterie while learning how to cook local ingredients with respect and with a greater understanding of the art of culinary and the community effort it takes to create a sustainable food culture.
He moved to St. Petersburg to bring his charcuterie knowledge to the Bay Area. Crooked Johnson was started with the intent to offer a few varieties of sausages that may be harder to locate in the Bay Area and he now offers his style of charcuterie “traditional and untraditional” at the Corey Avenue Sunday Market on St. Pete Beach every Sunday 10am-2pm.