Lakisha King didn’t used to worry about how she would put dinner on the table. But last year, while on maternity leave after a surprise pregnancy, pandemic closures put her out of a job. Suddenly, she had to worry for two. “I wasn’t getting food stamps; I was paying cash for food. And I was […]

It’s been more than two months since Maria Estrada has been able to prepare a home-cooked meal for her six children. The stove in her two-bedroom flat in Southwest Detroit doesn’t work, so she usually relies on cold cuts or heats up frozen meals in the microwave, buying provisions at a nearby corner store. Even […]

Every Tuesday morning around 9 a.m., Stephen Bentley pulls his black SUV to the rear entrance of the West Bloomfield Whole Foods, where he’s greeted by staff member Mario Davis. Bentley pops the hatchback while Davis brings out cartons of prepared salads, loaves of fresh-baked bread, vegetables, quiches, cans of peas and tomatoes and varieties […]

In Marcia Spivey’s backyard in northwest Detroit, a weeping cherry tree sits right next to a raised garden bed. Spivey’s mother’s ashes are buried beneath the tree, and she likes to think of her mom, who was an avid gardener, overseeing Spivey’s first attempts at growing her own food. Spivey, an attorney in solo practice, […]

Lakisha King is standing in her kitchen in northwest Detroit, wielding a spatula and channeling southern-style YouTube cooking sensation Danni Rose, also known as StoveTop Kisses. That’s where King gets her culinary inspiration. “I absolutely love her,” she says.  The evening’s dinner plan is seafood-stuffed salmon with broccoli and bread. Families First Marketplace, an emergency […]