- [Narrator] Coming up on "One Detroit," it's all about food in the D. We'll have a truly Detroit story on how the area's unique take on egg rolls is grabbing national attention.

Plus, a Detroit chef takes her talents to the Downtown Boxing Gym to inspire kids to cook and eat healthy.

Also ahead, we've partnered with "Bridge Detroit" on a story about a new Black-led grocery co-op in Detroit.

And we'll tell you what's happening around town this weekend and beyond.

It's all coming up next on "One Detroit".

- [Announcer] From Delta faucets to Behr paint, Masco Corporation is proud to deliver products that enhance the way consumers all over the world experience and enjoy their living spaces.

Masco, serving Michigan communities since 1929.

Support also provided by the Cynthia and Edsel Ford Fund for Journalism at Detroit PBS.

- [Announcer] DTE Foundation is a proud sponsor of Detroit PBS.

Among the state's largest foundations committed to Michigan-focused giving, we support organizations that are doing exceptional work in our state.

Learn more at dtefoundation.com.

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(upbeat music) - [Narrator] Just ahead on a food themed edition of "One Detroit," a new program at the Downtown Boxing Gym is helping young people learn their way around the kitchen.

Plus, an African-American led grocery store is bringing healthier food options to residents in one Detroit neighborhood.

And Cecelia Sharpe from 90.9 WRCJ shares some of the fun summer events taking place this weekend.

But first up, a culinary treat that is truly Detroit.

We all know the city is famous for being the home of the Detroit-style pizza and Coney Island hot dogs.

Now the egg roll is poised to take its place in the region's storied culinary history.

"One Detroit's" Bill Kubota looks at how the traditional Chinese American egg roll has evolved into a deep fried treat with a variety of multicultural fillings in the Detroit area.

(upbeat music) - Now am I eating it right?

I feel like I gotta two-hand it, it's so big, but if I just.

- [Bill] Tom Perkins, Detroit food writer checking out Sista Roles Street Eats, home of an array of oversized egg rolls in Allen Park.

- Them big old egg rolls on a stick.

Everybody know the tag Sista Roles because they know where it come from.

So it was a big marketing thing.

That's for Uber Eats, this one for DoorDash.

- [Bill] The evolution of the Detroit-style egg roll.

It begins with the spring roll, which really is eaten in Asia, but it's here in the US where the egg roll was created.

Some credit a Chinese restaurant in New York almost a century ago, but who really knows?

And why are they called egg rolls?

Not shaped like an egg, not a trace of egg inside.

Just maybe an egg wash to keep the wrapper together.

Who really knows?

We do know this, in Detroit, Chinese restaurant egg rolls have been known for containing a lot of bean sprouts that helps with that satisfying crunch.

Other places use more cabbage, a more economical option let's say.

But our Detroit egg roll story really starts with corned beef.

Corned beef culture, as somebody once put it to me in Detroit, dates back to, I mean, gosh, 100 ago, there's a big Jewish population in Detroit, and they open all these corned beef shops and then the Jewish folks left town, African American folks who moved into the neighborhoods enjoy corned beef.

So some of the restaurants that were there that had like been around for 60 years stayed in business.

- [Bill] Then in the late 1970s, a woman from Vietnam, Kim White, she put corned beef and cheese in an egg roll wrapper.

Called it Asian corned beef.

Fusion cuisine before most even heard of that term.

- Asian corned beef I think was Kim White, the woman who opened that, I think she's generally credited with inventing the dish.

But it really started to pop like about 10 years ago, more and more corned beef egg roll purveyors popped up around town.

It's not to the level of Detroit-style pizza or a Coney Dog yet, but it's getting there.

It's getting to that territory of almost a regional food dish.

- Egg rolls is a Detroit thing.

I can say it's part of our culture.

- And then Asian corned beef, I love their egg roles.

They don't have a lot of variety.

My goal was like pretty much to piggyback off of them and just make it bigger and wider.

- So my wife was like came up with the great idea because I used to always make Alfredo egg rolls for whenever we made Alfredo at home, I made the egg rolls.

- [Bill] Alfredo egg rolls with chicken and broccoli on the menu.

- It was a hitch, so I was like everything could go in the egg roll.

The list goes on.

Corned beef with mozzarella cheese, chicken shawarma.

We got 313 dog, that's corned beef, brown beef, bacon.

- [Bill] 19 different kinds of egg rolls.

- I can't even remember them all.

- Now this is the first time that I've had an egg roll on a stick.

- [Bill] Sista Roles Street Eats got started five years ago.

Portia and Courvoisier Jackson are entrepreneurs.

They started with a food trailer.

Word got out through social media, their egg rolls were an instant hit.

- With TikTok now, I am getting real big on there because everybody is tagging me continuously.

We are a must try restaurant right now.

- [Narrator] Flew all the way to Detroit for this.

- Man, social media have blew us up so big and I can't even like imagine if we didn't have TikTok, how would it be?

I can't even imagine it.

- Trying a place called Sista Roles Street Eats - Mr. Chime Time because everybody was tagging him to come here and he was like, "I had to come here.

The people would not let me not come here."

- I've done my research and I do see that some people like it, some people don't.

And I'm here to put the nail on the coffin to let you guys what it's really hitting on.

I ordered all the popular menu items.

- I was scared like I don't know what he's about to say, so oh my God.

It's like I was in here like losing it.

Like I'm not ready for that.

- Salmon.

So we got salmon, looks like, what's that?

Spinach dip and Swiss cheese.

I do like the fact it is stuffed and I mean stuffed with meat.

Y'all will love this.

If you like egg rolls, you need to stop whatever you're doing and get these egg rolls now.

- Is it a Chinese dish?

No.

Is it an Asian dish?

The person who invented it was a Vietnamese immigrant, so you got that connection.

But I'm not sure it goes much deeper than that.

- No, that's a long way from Chinese here.

This is delicious.

And it's big.

- [Bill] At Sista Roles, another favorite, the pizza style filling.

Innovative?

Well it's not a new idea.

♪ A pizza pizza pizza roll ♪ - [Bill] The original pizza roll goes back to 1965 brought to you by a guy in Minnesota named Jeno.

- [Narrator] This is America's favorite hot snack, the pizza roll.

- [Bill] Jeno Paulucci, a proud Italian who owned the Chun King Food Company, which made little frozen egg rolls.

Jeno thought, why not put something else in there?

- [Narrator] All those good things rolled into America's favorite hot snack.

- [Bill] Jeno sold out to Totinos, which still makes them today.

Still little bite-sized things.

- [Portia] Order number 92, your order is due.

- [Bill] Chinese, Vietnamese, Jewish, Italian.

And then there's the Irish.

- So we'll get ourselves a Irish egg roll here.

Gotta take it and you really do have to, in my opinion anyway, you really do have to have a little bit of the blarney mustard sauce.

I think that it just makes it.

- [Bill] At McShane's Irish Pub in Detroit's Cork Town, Bob Roberts had leftover corned beef he wanted to repurpose into another dish.

That was 12 years ago.

- Somebody had the idea, let's try and roll them up in a wonton and deep fry them.

The first set was pretty good, but then we wanted to jazz it up a little bit.

So now they're made with corned beef, red skin potato, braised cabbage, Swiss cheese, and scallions.

We had never had one of the Asian corned beef egg rolls before, we had never heard of them.

- [Bill] So then it seems it's the luck of Detroiters to have so many egg roll choices.

- You could get into a debate there.

Well is this an Irish thing or is this a Detroit thing?

And all right, fine, if you're putting potatoes in it, but really like at the end of the day, who cares?

It's a corned beef egg roll.

It is a thing in Detroit and it's delicious.

So why are we debating it?

- [Narrator] And you can visit the "One Detroit" website to see more stories from "One Detroit's" Bill Kubota about the culinary dishes that are truly Detroit.

The Coney Island hot dog has to be near the top of the list.

Bill looks at the history behind this Detroit favorite and how it's served up differently in other cities around the state.

Plus, he reports on the growing popularity of Detroit-style pizza, which first came on the scene in 1946.

Now the square pies are showing up in restaurants across the country and the world with a variety of toppings and flavors.

Check out these truly Detroit stories and more at onedetroitpbs.org/trulydetroit.

Students at the Downtown Boxing Gym on Detroit's east side are getting a lesson in the culinary arts in addition to playing sports and getting help with their homework.

The kids are learning how to prepare nutritious meals in the organization's new commercial kitchen.

"Bridge Detroit's" Micah Walker teamed up with "One Detroit's" Chris Jordan for a report on the nonprofit's latest program for young people.

(upbeat music) - [Micah] Every day after school, hundreds of kids head to Downtown Boxing Gym on Detroit's east side to shoot some hoops, get help with their homework, or hit the boxing ring.

And they're also having fun in the kitchen.

- So you can do that for all of them and then you'll come around and do it.

- [Micah] That's Molly Mitchell, the new Associate Director of Culinary Arts for the Downtown Boxing Gym.

She prepares fresh from scratch meals and snacks for DBG students each night, totaling more than a thousand meals per week.

Mitchell is also teaching kids how to cook nutritious meals and is developing a culinary arts curriculum for the organization.

Downtown Boxing Gym serves students ages eight to 18 across Metro Detroit with continued mentorship and support through the age of 25.

Mitchell was the owner of Rose's Fine Food on Jefferson with shut its doors last year.

- When I closed Rose's last year, I was really interested in like going into culinary education in some manner.

And so it just like really worked out for me to sort of get in contact with DBG at the same time that I was closing roses because they were ready to like really flesh out their program, their cooking program because they just opened this amazing commercial kitchen.

The timing really worked out for me to come here, and I'm able to pursue my passion, and also like help them out with their commercial kitchen.

So it was just like a really good match.

- Molly, what's it been like creating this culinary arts program?

- I'm really inspired by the kids at DBG because they're super into cooking, and so I've really let them take the lead on what they're interested in and I'm just trying to like shape it in terms of having like a very complete culinary education.

So learning about food safety and like sauces and roasting meats and everything in between.

So it's been great.

Oh yeah, that looks great.

Three more decisive chives.

Yeah, put it in.

- And what kind of healthy meals are you preparing for the kids?

- We have breakfast for dinner sometimes, we have tacos, we make braises.

I'm really trying to get the kids into vinaigrette.

We also make ranch sometimes, which is really the most requested.

I'm just like trying to like find out what they really are into and then also just like throw some wild cards in.

- That's different.

- That's good.

- Awesome.

- I know kids can be notorious for being picky eaters.

How do you make making healthy foods fun and simple?

- So that was actually like my biggest fear starting here, that the kids would be so picky that I would really be like hindered in what I could make for them.

And to my surprise, like the kids are pretty open-minded about trying most things that we make.

I would say like about 85% of the kids at dinner time are game to try whatever we make.

And then there's like a smaller percentage that do have like, well we have kids with dietary restrictions and allergies, but also some pickier kids.

And I just try to like maybe work with them and have like some plainer options available when we do serve dinner.

- [Micah] And Molly has some big plans for the curriculum, including a guest chef's program.

- They'll teach a class and then it's my hope that they'll give us a recipe that we can actually make for dinner just to have even like a broader range of point of view for the kids to try new things that like I wouldn't have thought to make as well.

But we're also working on a garden outside, like a kitchen garden near the soccer field that we'll be able to have like a teaching space within the garden where we'll be able to grow food that we can harvest, bring in here so kids can see everything from seed to meal.

- For Downtown Boxing Gym founder Chali Sweeney, teaching children how to cook and where their food comes from has been a priority since the organization started in 2007.

Why did you wanna add culinary arts to the curriculum here?

- Food brings people together.

It's also the fuel that our body needs to get through the day.

How can you go to school and function at a high level if you may have only had a bowl of cereal or something or there's no lunch program at your school.

So I wanted the gym to be that space where you can come get a healthy meal, learn about eating healthy, and just being a healthy overall person.

- And why was it important for the kids to get outside and see how food is grown?

- Learning how to grow food straight from the ground, no preservatives, none of that type of stuff.

That's a wonderful skill to have.

And just getting back to nature and learning how to farm and stuff like that, that is a life skill.

I thought it was important that kids were able to do that.

- We're just gonna make a quick coleslaw, but we can eat this for dinner with our pizza.

- [Micah] What's something you learned to cook here with Molly?

- We learned how to make smoothies, pancakes, and we frosted cakes.

- You see yourselves having a future doing culinary arts?

- Yes, I wanna be a chef.

- You wanna open your own restaurant?

- Yeah, I'm gonna try.

- [Micah] And I even got to join in on the taste testing.

- Okay, let's taste it and see if it needs something.

- All right, let's see.

More lime juice?

- Yes.

- What are your goals for the culinary arts program?

- My goal is to really like build out a program that is not only really informative, and like if somebody wanted to go get a job in a restaurant, they could after taking this program, but really I'm trying to just cement an excitement for food that can be like a lifelong passion.

Whether you're working in a restaurant or you're just learning how to cook like really amazing meals for yourself and your loved ones.

- [Narrator] A new African-American led community-owned grocery cooperative in Detroit's North End is providing healthy food options and food education for residents.

The Detroit People's Food Co-op opened in May with the purpose of meeting the needs of the Neighborhood.

"Bridge Detroit's" Jena Brooker and "One Detroit's" Jonathan Shed examined the story's impact on food access and economic development in the city.

(upbeat music) - [Jena] A new Black-led cooperatively-owned grocery store has officially opened in Detroit.

The Detroit People's Food Co-op on Woodward near East Grand Boulevard started welcoming shoppers on May 1st.

It focuses on providing access to culturally relevant healthy foods.

What would be the impact of having such a big grocery store open up in the North End in Detroit on the local economy?

- We are focused on uplifting Black people, and what we find is that when the people who are most marginalized and most oppressed in society are lifted up, everybody benefits.

We expect that the Detroit People's Food Co-op will stimulate the local food economy, focusing, centering Black people who are playing within that kind of space, but also is going to benefit the entire local food economy.

- [Jena] The Detroit Black Community Food Sovereignty Network, DBCFSN for short, spearheaded the co-op project.

It also runs D-Town Farms on Detroit's West Side Yakini said DBCFSN and the co-op were created out of the need for greater health equity across the city.

- We were concerned about the lack of access to good high quality food, but even equally as importantly, we were concerned about the lack of self-determination and the economic extraction from Black communities.

- [Jena] After losing roughly a dozen grocery stores in Detroit over the last decade, the co-op will fill a much needed gap for many Detroiters.

- We see in some specific areas there's been multiple grocery stores that have left.

There's areas now on the East Side that are very much pockets where access to food opportunities is very limited.

One store in particular closed and it was across the corner from a high rise senior living facility, and all those folks would just walk across the street to get their groceries and now they can't.

- [Jena] Hill has been mapping Detroit's grocery store landscape and studying food access since 2011.

The United Way's ALICE report, which stands for Asset, Limited Income, Restrained, and employed, provides a peek into food security for Detroiters.

- In Detroit, it's like 70% of households that meet that ALICE threshold where they're very likely facing food insecurity on some semi-regular basis.

The housing development happening in the North End tied with this food co-op development that is also so community rooted, it's gonna be an amazing access point for a lot of people.

- [Jena] But the co-op is focused on more than just healthy food access.

Dr. Shakara Tyler of DBCFSN wants to increase people's understanding of the full process from seed to shelf.

- The local food will be traveling less miles to get to the shelves.

It's really important that we uplift how many Detroiters will now have access to local foods that sometimes can be hard to nail down.

Most of our food travels from miles and miles away, California, Mexico, Florida, Georgia.

And so we wanna really uplift the food that's being grown here in Detroit.

- [Jena] The co-op plans to source fresh produce from Black-run farms like D-Town Farms, the Oakland Avenue Farm, and the Green Boots Project.

It will also stack food and wellness products for more than 40 local vendors.

- We have a model of 50/50, so like 50% healthy and organic, 50% clean and conventional.

So you'll see products that you're used to seeing right next to products that you are not used to seeing.

I'll give you one example.

We had a couple of member owners saying oxtails, we like oxtails and you tend out to find that in most grocery stores.

- [Jena] Shoppers will also see cookies and other products from Zella's Bakery, a plant-based bakery created by two sisters from Detroit in 2015.

- We've been waiting on this.

We've been waiting on a co-op.

We've been waiting on a Black-lead store that can speak to food sovereignty the way that this one does.

Meets the needs of the people centralized in an area that, whether you live east or west, you can get here right off of Woodward.

It gives us an opportunity to send our products into a store where they have beliefs as we have and wanting to feed our people and feed them in a healthy way.

- We're trying to be very thoughtful about the partnerships that we build and the role we play, both in creating a self-determining food economy, but also the role we're playing in a highly gentrifying neighborhood.

- [Jena] Research from Fair Food Network shows that Detroiters spend an average of 300 million to 500 million annually on groceries in the suburbs.

- It's an insane amount of money that leaves the city in grocery money.

Any thriving city, you have opportunity and you have choice.

And I think that's the most important part for Detroiters.

Like they deserve choice.

And it shouldn't just be that they can walk to this grocer or they can drive 30 minutes to this one.

- [Jena] In the past two years, Detroit has added two other new Black-owned grocery stores, neighborhood Grocery and Linwood Fresh Market.

More than adding another grocery store for Detroiters, the co-op's leadership hopes it can be an example for what's possible.

- I completely believe in the fact that anywhere on the planet that anyone lives where there's children, the children should see the adults creating solutions that are culturally relevant and that are necessary for that city, that village, those people.

- If people can see that we can feed ourselves through an economic cooperative model, maybe we can clothe ourselves, maybe we can house ourselves.

It reverberates outward beyond just food.

So if you are not already a member, please become a member because this is what we need.

Building Black food sovereignty is a participatory process, so we need all head, hearts, hands on deck.

This is a community process.

- [Narrator] Summer is in full swing, and that means a lot of outdoor festivals, art fairs, and concerts are taking place in Metro Detroit this weekend and beyond.

Here's Cecelia Sharpe of 90.9 WRCJ with today's "One Detroit Weekend."

- Hi, I'm Cecelia Sharpe with 90.9 WRCJ here to help you plan your summer days ahead with great events happening in Metro Detroit.

Through July 13th, you can head to downtown Wyandotte for the city's Street Art Fair.

The event showcases 300 fine artists from across the country, features food from 35 restaurants, and you can shop local merchants.

Starting today through July 14th is the Uncle Sam Jam in Woodhaven.

The event features a carnival midway, free concerts, incredible food, a drone show, fireworks display, and so much more.

Just what the summer days call for.

Then Friday is the kickoff to the 41st African World Festival, which runs through July 14th and Hart Plaza.

The event celebrates the arts and culture of the African diaspora.

There'll be music, art, food, clothing, live demonstrations, community resources, and a bunch more.

Also Friday through the 14th, it's Plymouth's Art in the Park, which welcomes over 400 artists showing off their works.

There's also live entertainment and food.

Plus all of the stores in downtown Plymouth have their doors open waiting for visitors to pour in.

On Sunday, Eastern Market'd Summer Market Series, Shed 5 Flea takes place.

You can find vintage fashions, antiques, delicious food, art, and handmade wares and more.

This is the second of three events, and you know there's even more events to take in.

So stay tuned for a few more options and have a wonderful weekend.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] That'll do it for this week's "One Detroit."

Thanks for watching.

Head to the "One Detroit" website for all the stories we're working on.

Follow us on social media and sign up for our weekly newsletter.

- [Announcer] This program is made possible in part by Timothy Bogart Comprehensive Planning Strategies.

From Delta faucets to Behr paint, Masco Corporation is proud to deliver products that enhance the way consumers all over the world experience and enjoy their living spaces.

Masco, serving Michigan communities since 1929.

Support also provided by the Cynthia and Edsel Ford Fund for Journalism at Detroit PBS.

- [Announcer] DTE Foundation is a proud sponsor of Detroit PBS.

Among the state's largest foundations committed to Michigan-focused giving, we support organizations that are doing exceptional work in our state.

Learn more at dtefoundation.com.

- [Announcer] Nissan Foundation, and viewers like you.

(upbeat music) (bright music)