Eminem’s ‘Mom’s Spaghetti’ Is Being Delivered to Detroit Healthcare Workers

On a list of hip-hop artists with culinary cred, Eminem certainly wouldn’t find himself as high as someone like Action Bronson. But after two decades, anyone with Marshall Mathers oeuvre is bound to have at least a few food-related rhymes. In Shady’s case, that includes the rapper’s first U.S. number-one single, “Lose Yourself.” The track famously opens with the Internet-beloved line, “His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy; there's vomit on his sweater already, mom's spaghetti.”

In the movie 8 Mile, the song describes a rap battle, but a different kind of battle is going on in the hospitals of Detroit right now . Those on the frontline of the COVID-19 crisis are not without their mom’s spaghetti, though. Tubs of Shady Records-labeled, ready-to-eat “Mom’s Spaghetti” have been donated to healthcare workers at multiple locations in Eminem’s hometown.

Yesterday, the Detroit-based hospital group Henry Ford Health System took to Instagram to post an image of their pasta haul. “Our #HealthcareHeroes ‘lost themselves’ in the delicious Mom’s Spaghetti donated by Detroit’s very own, @eminem,” the post stated. “Thank you for providing a special meal for our team members!” Each plastic container featured a “Mom” heart with a fork through it and the message “Thank you frontline caregivers.”

As the Michigan site MLive explains, Eminem has not appeared to confirm the donation, and it’s not entirely clear who made the spaghetti. However, Detroit Medical Center also tweeted images of a delivery of Mom’s Spaghetti yesterday. In their post, they thanked the Michigan-based restaurant group Union Joints, writing, “Thank you Union Joints for the generous donation of meals to support our staff. They served one of their specialties, also a favorite of Eminem.”

That connection makes perfect sense. Back in 2017, the rapper opened a pop-up shop in Detroit to promote the release of his album Revival. There, fans could buy Mom’s Spaghetti for $5 a pop, get the dish with meatballs for $8, or order a S’ghetti Sandwich for $5. During that event, the pasta was prepared by none other than Union Joints, with chef Vince Baker quipping, “It’s a totally scratch sauce, but you can practically taste the jar.”

Update April 24, 2020: Eminem’s publicist confirmed to Food & Wine that this Mom’s Spaghetti initiative is funded by Eminem and The Marshall Mathers Foundation and executed by the culinary team at Union Joints. We were also told that more donations will be happening in the Detroit area “over the coming weeks.”