A reporter for Forbes recently wrote that, “Changing your career to something that is more suited to your values, needs, skills, and interests, is doable today, even in these tough economic times. But to switch careers effectively and achieve a positive outcome, you need four things: clarity, courage, confidence, and competence.”
This aptly describes Chef Martha Griffin. After working a series of jobs for different companies for decades, she felt unfulfilled—it was time to take charge and do what she loved.
Born in Mississippi, Martha preferred watching her grandmother cook to playing outside or with toys. After earning an Associate degree in Culinary Arts, she furthered her education with a sous chef apprenticeship at Napolitano’s Mediterranean restaurant. She soon was getting rave reviews of her desserts and soups.
Martha soon expanded her portfolio to include catering. In 2010 she also discovered she had a niche for making popcorn. She worked out her first flavor, caramel, from her grandmother’s caramel cake recipe, a perennial Southern favorite. Full disclosure: I love popcorn, especially the cheese caramel mix. Among her fun flavors is chocolate with bacon. I love bacon even more!
Although she specializes in Southern cuisines, Martha always challenges herself to create delicious food inspired by gourmet dinners and desserts from other cultures.
In Martha’s words, she is “committed to keeping scratch (cooking) alive with exciting items with an ole’ skool flair.”
Her dream is to follow her daughter to Paris and train at one of the cooking schools in that city of gastronomic delight.
Martha traveled a long way from her grandmother’s kitchen and found her own kitchen in the western suburbs—a new career that was a lifetime in the making.
Learn more about Martha’s Gourmet Popcorn by inquiring via e-mail at MarthasGourmetPopcorn@sbcglobal.net.
