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Audrey Stange, ACS CCP
Ambassador of Moo, Rogue Creamery
Oregon
For Audrey Stange, what began as a role on the specialty team at Whole Foods quickly turned into a full-blown obsession—one that has only deepened over the past 14 years. Now ambassador of Moo for Rogue Creamery, Stange is an educator bringing a sense of curiosity, humor, and theater to everything she does.
With roots in music and performance, Stange approaches cheese with both refinement and expertise, whether she’s introducing newcomers to a category, championing Rogue’s award-winning blues, or dreaming up fictional cheeses for a pop-up shop at Burning Man. Her work lives at the intersection of storytelling and flavor, showing that cheese can be as playful and unexpected as the people who make it.
You started out in the culinary world—what made you shift to cheese?
My shift into cheese happened while I was working at Whole Foods. I was hired onto the specialty team for my culinary background, mostly focusing on meats and spreads, but I quickly fell head over heels for cheese. Eating it, cutting it, talking about it, rearranging it, thinking about it when I should have been doing other tasks—it just took over. It’s been 14 years and I’m still completely obsessed. If anything, it’s gotten worse (read: better). Cheese has this way of pulling you in deeper the more you learn. It’s a beautiful, delicious rabbit hole with no bottom.
Did you ever consider a career path outside of food?
My first career was actually in music. I started at 4 years old, studied music in college, and played in a band in LA. Now I just perform … with cheese. You can find me combining my two greatest passions each year at Midnite Mongers.
When you meet a cheese novice, what’s your favorite thing to tell them?
I like to remind people that we all start life as little cheesemakers, transforming our mother’s milk into cheese inside our tiny, beautiful cheese-vat bellies. So really, you already know how to make cheese. You’re just reconnecting with your roots.
Finish this phrase: “If you’re planning on getting into cheese …”
“Plan on smelling like cheese.” There’s no avoiding it. It will live in your clothes, your car, your hair, your soul. You just have to accept it, embrace it, and own it. It’s not a flaw, it’s a lifestyle.
Who is your hero?
I look up to many people in the industry, but working with David Gremmels—Mr. Blue—has been life-changing. He built something really special, and I try every day to carry that sense of magic, generosity, and purpose forward in the work we do.
You opened a pop-up cheese shop at Burning Man. What was that like?
A complete dream—but also mildly unhinged. In the spirit of decommodification, every cheese was de-branded and given a new name, origin story, and completely fabricated milk source. The fan favorite was “Abyssal Gold”—a rare cheese produced aboard a whale-milking submarine off the coast of Denmark, aged in a sea cave and salted by ocean spray. There are now thousands of people walking around fully believing in whale’s milk cheese. If you meet one of them, please don’t ruin it for them.
You mentioned tasting Rogue River Blue was your “aha moment.” Does that still hold true?
There’s still nothing quite like tasting the first finished Rogue River Blue each season. It never gets old—absolutely no bias whatsoever. That said, I’ve also recently had my mind completely blown by Pavé de Paris. It’s a little goth, a little minerally, bloomy with a whisper of blue, and constantly evolving. It goes from firm and bright to soft and earthy, with this beautiful marbled paste from mixed Jersey cow and goat curd.
Is Rogue working on anything fun right now?
Always. We literally have an internal workstream called “Fun R&D,” which feels like a dream job within a dream job. One of our newest collaboration cheeses with Wegmans is especially playful: a yuzu- and sake-infused blue cheese called BluZu. (Yes, I named it, and yes, I’m very proud.) It’s bright, aromatic, a little unexpected, and exactly the kind of thing that keeps cheese exciting.
Why do you think blue cheese sometimes gets a bad rap?
There’s a lot of unresolved Blue Cheese Trauma out there. Maybe your dad forced you to try it (mine did). Maybe you were accidentally dosed in a salad. People remember that moment and carry it with them. They flinch. They preemptively say no. That’s why I like to think of cheeses like Smokey Blue as a gentle reintroduction; it’s a gateway blue, a path toward healing.
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