Brook Maikut’s work has moved between restaurant kitchens, private dinners, and farming. After helping found Comune in Columbus, he developed family-style private chef experiences and a local oat milk business before moving to Knox County.

In 2021, Brook and his wife, Lauren, started an elderberry farm there, bringing food and their relationship with the land into the same place. Dinner Club’s strawberry butter is one example of his prepared foods, combining butter with strawberries, maple syrup, lemon, vanilla, salt, and rose.

If you’re choosing a prepared ingredient, think about the meal it can help you finish. A flavored butter is an invitation to keep the rest simple: toast, something warm from the oven, or breakfast at home. You can decide how much more the meal needs.