The soup that started it all. Yes, it was that good.

Last week, while I was trying to source the unbelievable soup I had for lunch (Russell Street Deli‘s Moroccan Chickpea soup, bought from Stella Coffee in the Fisher Building) I had a very happy accident. Browsing the Deli’s website in search of whatever magical spice made my soup so fantastic, I came across a New York Times article Mark Bittman wrote about Detroit in 2011. Raised by a father who loves to cook and a mother who loves the New York Times, I’ve long been a fan of Bittman’s opinion pieces. This one is officially my new favorite. In one of the very few complimentary New York Times pieces on Detroit I’ve read, Bittman perfectly captures the struggle between despair and opportunity in Detroit. For me, and I suspect many others living in Detroit, the starkness of empty block after empty block in what used to be thriving Detroit neighborhoods is met with a similarly strong sense of opportunity. More than just melancholy ghosts of a greater era, these expansive tracts of land are a clean slate on which quite literally anything we dream of could be built.

An example of opportunity out of vacancy: Detroit’s Heidelberg Project

I’m happy to report that much has changed since Bittman published this piece in 2011, and I think he would be pleased to see the progress Detroit has made not only in its food production, but in nearly every other arena. Despite the intervening 2.5 years, Bittman’s final observation still rings true “If the journey is as important as the destination, Detroit is already succeeding. And we can all learn from what seems to be the city’s unofficial slogan: ‘We can do better than this.’”

Urban farms and gardens aren’t going to solve all of Detroit’s problems, but it’s the attitude behind these agricultural projects, an attitude that permeates much of Detroit, that is really making a difference in this city.

Check out the article for yourself here: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/17/imagining-detroit/?_r=0