We previously talked about how food can bring people together and help create a sense of community. There are perhaps fewer places where exciting things related to this are happening and where they are needed more than in the city of Detroit.
That is in part why I was pleased to read this nice piece in the New York Times on Slows Bar-B-Q and the owners who are a part of the effort to create a sense of community around food in Detroit. I was born and raised in the Detroit area and I might be biased, but I believe that even in spite of its problems, the city has a lot of potential. I can appreciate what people like the owners of Slows are doing because I know that it can’t be easy. Slows is not located in what would be considered the best neighborhood exactly, yet the owners continue to try to develop the neighborhood, which includes living downtown right above the businesses that they run. I’ve also eaten at Slows on more than one occasion and I can attest that the BBQ is pretty damn good (even compared to the Texas BBQ I ate for the 4 years I lived in San Antonio). It is everything that a comfortable, welcoming, neighborhood BBQ joint should be - and they serve local beers. One important point to keep in mind, however, is that it does take a community effort to affect change - a point that was made over at the 5 dollar dinner blog (http://5dollardinner.tumblr.com/), which highlighted groups like the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network (http://detroitblackfoodsecurity.org/). This is important to remember because it means that you don’t have to be a trained chef, restaurant owner, or business man or woman to affect change in your community. You can do a number of things to help shape your community into what you would like it to be simply by choosing what to eat, what to grow, where to shop, where to live, how to interact with others in your community, and how to participate in local politics and rule making. So, I think we need people of all backgrounds and skill sets to help co-produce the food and the communities that we would like to have. And I am excited and optimistic about the way this appears to be happening in Detroit.Larry