(rhythmic music) (pan sizzling) - [Jena] Collard greens are a staple of the Black community.

Recipes are passed down through generations to family and friends.

For Chef Buddah Calhoun, the recipe he refined earned him the title of Champion at last year's Collard Green Cookoff in Detroit.

This year he'll be back to defend that title.

(vegetables sizzling) - My name is Chef Buddah.

I'm a owner and director of Buddah Foods.

I'm also known as the vegan gumbo guy across the world because I started off doing vegan gumbo.

You know, I grew up on collard greens and if my grandma was here to taste those, she probably would've gave me that look.

Like, "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.

- So what makes the recipe special?

- Pan frying it.

Traditionally, in most families, people will boil their collard greens.

Me, I like the saute 'em, which is kind of equivalent to how they do over in the east, in Africa and the Caribbean, they kind of pan fry their stuff with the callaloo and all that kind of stuff.

Not majority of the culture, but some culture would pan fry.

So I said, if we're going into the contest, everybody's going to cook traditional collard greens.

Why don't I saute mine?

I had elders in wheelchairs holding my hand the whole time we were serving, 'cause they was like, "How did you do this?"

- [Jena] On August 15th, Calhoun will face off against five other finalists at the Joseph Walker Williams Recreation Center on Rosa Parks Boulevard in Detroit.

- Yeah, so these collard greens I got from D Town Farm.

- Okay, great.

- I like to put sweet peppers and onions in mine.

I don't know, traditionally I don't think we ever had it like that.

If we did, my grandma would cut up fresh tomatoes and fresh onions on the side, and we'd just sprinkle it on top of the greens that were already cooked.

But me, I love cooking with sweet peppers 'cause it gives it such a great taste.

And I added shallots to this one today just because I had one shallot at home.

I said, that's not gonna hurt, so why not add that.

(knife slicing) Today we're gonna use avocado oil.

(vegetables sizzling) - [Jena] So roughly what temperature do we want the pan at?

- Just hot enough to cook down the peppers and onions.

With the greens, we don't want to overcook 'em, so we're just gonna toss them around a few times.

Let it simmer for like, I'd say about eight minutes at the most.

(pan clattering) (vegetables sizzling) I'm pretty sure a lot of elders would turn their nose up at this the way I'm pan frying greens instead of putting 'em in a pot of boiling water with chicken stock, or turkey stock, or some type of dead animal product in there to season it.

I will tell you what I'm seasoning it with today, though.

Chili powder and cumin.

That is kind of slash like a island flavor that most of the islanders might use.

(vegetables sizzling) - [Jena] So was that a hot sauce or?

- That's liquid smoke.

- [Jena] Liquid smoke, okay.

- And I got some chili powder.

It doesn't need much because of the potent of the cumin and the chili powder.

They both have earthy, strong flavors.

- [Jena] It smells so good already.

- Oh yes.

(vegetables sizzling) I have a secret ingredient.

I'm not gonna tell you guys what it is because I don't- - [Jena] What if we guess?

(laughing) - It's definitely vegetable.

(vegetables sizzling an pan clattering) I don't wanna overcook the greens, so I'll cook the peppers and onions first, then add the greens.

(vegetables sizzling) And I think we're ready to roll.

Mm.

No sodium.

I usually do add like a Creole seasoning to it, which will probably bring it out a little bit more, but it's definitely good.

What you think?

- These are so flavorful.

And like you were saying, the texture's still there, or there's a little bit of a bite into it.

What was the experience like being at the Collard Green Cookoff competing against fellow chefs and your neighbors, the community out there?

- I think it was a little bit too festive for me.

I had too much fun.

I think I made like 400 friends that day.

- 400 friends.

- New friends.

So now when people see me on the street, they're like, "It's the collard green guy," right?

Before they would call me the vegan gumbo guy.

You know, I'm used to that in a way, but with so much people that day, it was overwhelming.

So it felt like a royal convention because they was crowning me as like, you are really doing it.

And especially to see so many elders give me praise.

That was just a beautiful feeling, man.

It made me feel real good and it gave me more confidence.

So this year I got something a little bit special.

It's gonna be similar to the last year's recipe, but I'm gonna add something extra, something that people love, that I realized goes well with greens now.

So hopefully I'll come home again with a second trophy.

- [Jena] Calhoun is a proponent of a vegan lifestyle and he's adapted some family recipes to lose the meat and focus on locally grown produce.

- I was raised by my granny.

Greens were always boiled, and it was always either smoked turkey or smoked ham hocks in it, or something like that, which back then as a kid they were good.

And just about every household or even restaurants that sell greens, it's all cooked the same way.

And then so often a lot of people are raised into a certain situation and never really asked why.

You know, I wish I could have asked my grandma like, "Why do we boil greens?"

Plus, I'm a big fan of not overcooking produce.

I'm always, I want to eat the freshest I can.

Basically from farm to table, not overcooked.

I think we're doing things a little bit different than our elders did.

And I think it's good, so now we can pass some of these traditions on to our children, our grandchildren.

(vegetables sizzling)