; the Seafood Lab clock's hands 

 inch toward 9 am, Joyce Taylor bustles around 

 the well-stocked kitchen checking last-minute 

 details prior to a new Nutrition Leader session. 



Before she hands out the six recipes they'll 

 be testing, she checks in with the women who 

 over the years have become more than 

 coworkers — they are close friends. 



"We've got handouts. Remember I used to 

 be a teacher," jokes Taylor, now-retired North 

 Carolina Sea Grant seafood expert, as she passes 

 out the day's recipes and rating sheets. 



Like a well-trained team, the seasoned 

 cooks, donned in "Eat More Seafood" aprons, 

 divide the recipes from their coach, and begin 

 pulling ingredients out of large wooden cabinets 

 and packed refrigerators. 



Since 1973, representatives from each 

 Carteret County home extension club have 



gathered monthly to test new ways of handling, 

 storing and preparing fish and shellfish caught 

 off the North Carolina coast. 



First known as the "Health, Food and 

 Nutrition Leaders," these cooks came, cooked, 

 then shared what they learned with their own 

 clubs back home in Crab Point. Gloucester, 

 Emerald Isle and other spots along the Crystal 

 Coast. 



Sea Grant and the North Carolina State 

 University Seafood Lab started the program as 

 a way to promote North Carolina seafood 

 products. Then, as now, its purpose was 

 twofold: to provide a place where good cooks 

 could test seafood-related research, and to 

 translate that information to the public. 



"Home-grown and home-prepared," 

 David Green, director of the Seafood Lab, 

 describes the one-of-a-kind program. "It's 



North Carolina seafood products prepared by 

 North Carolina people." 



What makes the Nutrition Leaders' 

 program even richer, he adds, is that women 

 who joined in the 1980s are the "newcomers." 

 For 30 years, the program has sailed along 

 with Taylor at the helm. 



Now, their legacy will endure with 

 Mariner's Menu: 30 Years of Fresh Seafood 

 Ideas, published this fall by Sea Grant. 



Mariner's Menu contains more than 

 160 of the Nutrition Leaders' top-rated 

 recipes, such as Sauteed Soft Crabs with Fresh 

 Lime, Carolina Shrimp Boil and Scallop 

 Bisque. Chapters cover such cooking methods 

 as broiling, grilling, frying and steaming the 

 catch. 



Yet, Mariner's Menu is more than a 

 cookbook, as Taylor is quick to point out. It's 



C o n t i n ii e 



COASTWATCH 



