Saving Detroit With Every Bite

 Food nourishes the body and soul. It can also nourish a whole town and bring life into its; veins. The restaurant industry is bringing vitality back to Detroit in a big way. it provides not only food but employment as well.

 Regular  contributor Brett Anderson wrote about this in yesterday's New York Times Food section.Detroit was unlike other cities during the pandemic. It was resilient thanks to a long history of enduring hardships going back decades. Most business owners reported their businesses being less profitable than before the pandemic and that conditions were worse than three months ago. Yet the city provides the result that communities can expect when entrepreneurship and activism can occur>Many like  bakery owners April Anderson and her wife, Michelle received help from a network of private and public agencies. They were able to get grant money to keep their Good Cakes And Bakes financially afloat. Other food industries have received aid from philantthropist, civil servants and activists.Another boost comes from Detroit Food lab, started in 2013 by Devita Davison. She was the one who believed in Ms. Anderson and her goals for her bakery.

Despite the "whitewashing" of Detroit, that is  mostly white men owning businesses and trendy restaurants, the Black culinary scene is holding tis' own.There is the drive to stimulate local businesses.Hamissi Mamba and Nadia Nijimbere , owners of Baobab Fare ,a restaurant featuring their native Burundian fare got a boost from Food Lab and Folk Detroit.This was a godsend because many contractors refuse to deal with immigrants for fear of not getting paid back. Other eateries like Yum Village and Warda Patisserie have also benefited. There is a problem with this, The more popular a restaurant becomes there's more of a chance of attracting well heeled clients who move into the neighborhood and gentrify the area. There is also the looming fact of real estate prices also rising.As Mark Kurlyandchik, a writer for The Detroit Free Press fears that the city may be getting "too vanilla". THey shouldn't be cheerleading every business that opens. Local point to his articles as well as ones by Tunde Wey another writer for the Detroit Free Press  about how Detroit's development is not always for good.Another problem is that non profits also suffer as well, as seen in Harriette Brown's Sister ON A Roll that feeds the homeless. She has yet to receive decent funding.

Detroit is a hardy town , resilient as a diamond. The same can be said for its' food industry. It will survive, no matter what comes its' way.