Six Detroit chefs next week will prepare hundreds of pounds of collard greens in a battle for top honors at the second annual collard green cookoff.
The free public event created by community media group Detroit is Different, is back and bigger by demand, with a “playoff round” and 150 pounds more greens, according to event founder Khary Frazier. The annual event was created to gather community and celebrate the cultural importance of collard greens for many Black communities. The three-hour competition runs from 4-7 p.m. Aug. 15 at the Joseph Walker Williams Recreation Center, 8431 Rosa Parks Blvd.
Chef Buddah Calhoun won the taste buds of hundreds of attendees at last year’s event with his pan-fried vegan greens. This year he will compete to defend his title, but with a different recipe.
“It’s going to be similar to last year’s recipe, but I might add something extra, something that people love that I realized goes well with greens,” said Calhoun, founder of catering company Buddah Foods LLC.
“So hopefully I’ll come home again with the second trophy, and then, next year, I’ll win again, then I’ll bow out. We gotta let other people win,” he added playfully.
Buddha said pan frying the greens is what makes his recipe special, although it’s a less common method of cooking greens in America.
“Traditionally, most families would boil their collard greens. Me, I like to pan fry them, which is kind of equivalent to how they do over in East Africa and in the Caribbean,” he said. The recipe won the hearts of young people and elders alike, who showered Calhoun with love, he said.
“I grew up on collard greens,” said Buddah. “And if my grandma was here to taste those, she probably gave me that look like ‘What is, how did you do this?’ because traditionally I wasn’t taught that, I just learned it from my buddy who learned it from somebody else, and I just took off with it. Traditional things can be changed sometimes.”
Frazier said the event will be bigger due to demand from people asking to compete and the turnout last year. Frazier also held a preliminary competition, or playoffs, ahead of this year’s cookoff, to give more chefs an opportunity to participate. Earlier this summer, nine chefs competed in the playoffs and five chefs came out victorious: Tolani Anthony, Harriette Brown, Sean Brumfield, Jasmine Jones, and Moe Vito. Those chefs will go up against Calhoun.
The chefs will cook up 350 pounds of collard greens sourced from D-Town Farms, Oakland Avenue Urban Farms, Liberated Farms, Green Thumb, and Urban Youth Agriculture Farm.
The competition will be judged by co-owner of Good Cakes and Bakes April Anderson, comedian Howie Bell, founder of In The Business of Food Ederique Goudia, and Vice President of Build Institute Aisha Tillman. The public will also have a vote.
Frazier said the recreation center recently reopened following renovations last year. It’s a “classic rec center for Detroit,” he said, and a key community hub that’s accessible once again after being closed the last four years.
“Now that it’s reopened it’s really cool to do something there and carry that tradition,” he said.
