put away. And the Nutrition Leaders chalk up 

 another successful session. 



"I believe I've eaten about a pound of fish 

 today," Gaskins says. 



"Yes," adds Lissie McNamee, "We eat 

 and go home happy." 



Meet tke Nutrition Leaders 



Each of the Nutrition Leaders brings a 

 special flavor to the table. Over the years, more 

 than 50 volunteers have supported Taylor's Sea 

 Grant efforts, including a Mariner' 's Menu 

 newsletter, and various workshops and 

 publications. 



build a fire in the sand and have a fish fry. In 

 winter, she and her mother often would go down 

 to the water to gather oysters, then roast them on 

 the shore or back home. She recalls gathering 

 scallops, too, then selling them by the bucket in 

 her side yard. 



Yet even with all she knew about fish. Bell 

 says she's learned much at the Seafood Lab since 

 joining in the early 1980s. "North Carolina 

 seafood is hard to beat," she says. "We were 

 blessed." 



Judy Blessing 



Cod and canned aina were about the only 



Vera Gaskins 



Marrying a weekend angler in 1961 

 brought Vera Gaskins abruptly, but willingly, 

 into the world of cooking seafood. 



"He loves the sport, and I have always tried 

 to use his catches to feed our family," says 

 Gaskins, a native of Alabama. Her sister-in-law 

 passed along a few frying tips, but for years 

 Gaskins relied on two dog-eared seafood 

 cookbooks before becoming a Nutrition Leader 

 in 1982. 



Before then. Gaskins fried 90 percent of 

 the seafood she cooked. Now the former 

 Emerald Isle mayor bakes, grills, microwaves, 



LEFT: Joyce Taylor cuts portion-size pieces of a fish filet to he used in a recipe that will he tested for the seafood resource hook. 

 RIGHT: Learning techniques for handling and preparing takes the fear out of seafood cooking. Rule numher one: Only the freshest fish will do. 



"Their contributions are remarkable. The 

 work — the book — would not exist without 

 the Nutrition Leaders," Taylor says. 



Even after Taylor retired, these 1 1 women 

 continued the monthly tradition to complete 

 chapters of the book — and some still return 

 monthly for a Seafood Lab project focusing on 

 aquaculture species. 



Dolena "Dolly" Bell 



The youngest of five Gillikins, Dolena 

 Bell grew up on a farm eight miles east of 

 Beaufort in a little community called "Bettie." 



Back then, all the neighbors would tie 

 their nets together each fall when the mullet ran, 



fish dishes on Judy Blessing's menus before 

 moving South. "Being from a Catholic family, I 

 can remember eating fish every Friday," recalls 

 the Athol, Mass. native. "We only had cod with 

 tartar sauce or tuna casserole. Nothing fancy." 



All that changed when she married and 

 moved onboard a 32-foot sailboat, Moon Mist. 

 For six years, the newlyweds toured the world, 

 docking in Beaufort for good in 1983. 



"Sailing for six years we caught lots of 

 different fish" like lobster and squirrelfish, 

 Blessing says. But joining the Nutrition 

 Leaders in 1985 finally helped her learn a 

 variety of ways to cook and enjoy fresh 

 seafood. 



stews, steams and fries. "I'm not afraid to 

 experiment and alter recipes, and I no longer shy 

 away from cooking seafood for a crowd." 



Martha Giles 



"I don't really remember 'learning' to 

 cook," Martha Giles says. "We just did it, I 

 guess, from helping Mother," back in her 

 Chadbourne kitchen in Columbus County. 



Growing up close to the ocean, "We 

 cooked a goodly amount of seafood, especially 

 fish and oysters," Giles recalls. 



Marrying a fisherman — and a good cook 

 himself — kept Giles near the bounty of the sea. 



Continued 



COASTWATCH 9 



