Martha Robbins, born and reared in Gloucester Point, the middle sibling of three, has been receiving recognition for her cooking since she was a young girl. Recently she came home with two trophies from the Gloucester Point Baptist Church Fall Festival.

“My mother was always cleaning and I hated to clean. I would much rather be cooking, so by the time I was 14 years old I was preparing  full meals for the family. My father was a good cook and so was my grandmother, my father’s mother.”

Martha now lives alone and says she does not cook as much as she once did, but she is still keeping her hands busy in the kitchen and on the grill outside. According to her sister Susan who was visiting from Port Royal, Martha “still does a lot of cooking and gives most of it away.”

Martha doesn’t hesitate to change recipes to suit her own taste. If what’s needed isn’t available she can substitute easily and that same philosophy applies to whenever ...