Longtime chef Tyrrell Hutchins curates meals with a dual purpose: connect ancestral traditions with contemporary technique. He demonstrates this through his Happy Sunday pop-up events. It’s an immersive multi-course dining experience that takes place every other month.

On June 14, the menu will feature Black American cuisine in anticipation of the Juneteenth holiday.

Hutchins joined The Metro to explain what inspired this month’s  menu and the Happy Sunday format. Additionally, Hutchins discussed why it’s important to connect and work with local farmers.

“I feel like it’s very vital to capitalize on the things around us,” Hutchings said. “Our urban farmers are using a lot of ingenuity to create and produce and I want to highlight what they’re doing at the highest level.” 

Hear the full conversation using the media player above.

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Since we last spoke to food critic Melody Baetens, new restaurants have opened, Detroit’s culinary scene has the opportunity to gain national and international attention, and the summer food festival calendar has rounded into shape. 

Melody is a restaurant critic and dining reporter at the Detroit News. She joined the show to catch us up. 

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.

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Food is more than what’s on your plate. It’s a direct reflection of identity, of history, it’s a reflection of access and or lack of justice. 

In communities across this country, where you live can shape what you eat, how you eat, and even how long you live. The truth is that our food systems are rooted in histories that include displacement, inequity, and harm.

Who’s responsibility is it to actively repair these systems, when we all collectively share this knowledge? 

The Joy Project is not only asking those questions, but working to create space for education, and community healing through food.

Founded by Detroit native Gabrielle Knox and Oakland California native Josmine Evans, The Joy Project wants to reconnect people with ancestral foodways and land practices. They aim to educate and spread joy through building historical and cultural relationships between Black, brown, and Indigenous communities and the soil.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

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