About Martha

Martha Phelps Stamps grew up surrounded by amazing cooks. The kitchen was always the center of her home, and graciousness the order of the day. Her roots are imbedded in Nashville, entwined with family, neighborhood, and long time friends.

Martha began her professional cooking career while she studied English and art history at the University of Virginia. An honors graduate from the Culinary Institute of America, Martha’s cooking is influenced by her classical training, as well as Caribbean, Creole, and traditional Southern foods.

Martha began a successful catering venture in 1999. Several months later, she was asked to head the restaurant at historic Belle Meade Plantation.

Martha’s elegant, down-home style has attracted the media attention of Southern Living, The Best Of, Martha Stewart Living, Victoria, Country Living, and P. Allen Smith.

An advocate for seasonal foods and sustainable agriculture, Martha is a strong proponent of local food sources, a co-founder of Nashville’s Slow Food convivium, and an active member of Southern Foodways Alliance. Indigenous ingredients are the back bone of Martha’s cuisine, sometimes interpreted in new, and sometimes very old-fashioned ways. Hospitality is always the special of the day.

Martha is also the author of four cook books: The New Southern Basics, Fall Harvest, Spring Pleasures, and the recently released Martha’s at the Plantation.

Martha lives in the same home in the Radnor hills where she was raised, along with her children Moriah, Sadie, and John Mark, and a myriad of finned and four-legged friends. They (the humans) like to play in the creek, gaze at the stars, and make messy S'mores in the fireplace.