For the past 20 years, Brenda Jenkins of Gloucester has been associated with the kitchen department of the Gloucester County Sheriff’s Office. However, this was not the beginning of her love for cooking.

“I have been cooking most of my life,” Brenda confided. “I started cooking when I was about 8 or 10 years old when my parents owned a grocery store. The store, W.L. Shephard and Son, was located on the corner of Gum Fork and Hickory Fork roads. My mother was the one who began teaching me so I could do the family cooking while my parents attended to the grocery store.”

By the time Brenda reached high school, she was taking Home Economic classes. “It was these classes that really fueled my interest even more in cooking.” Following the grocery business and following his retirement from the shipyard, her father started a food vending business. “I helped him out with prepping and cooking.”

Brenda’s working career really began at East Coast convenience store when a Subway was put i...