(soft 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.

- [Molly] So you 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 1,000 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 which 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 Rose's because they were ready to really flesh out their cooking program 'cause 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's 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, you know, food safety and like sauces and roasting meats and everything in between.

So it's been great.

Oh yeah, that was great.

- Three more.

- Three more decisive chives.

Yeah, put it in.

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

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

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

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.

- Mm, that tastes different.

- That's good.

- 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 planer 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 Khali 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.

You know, 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 is 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.

You know, 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.

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

- We learn how to make smoothies, pancakes, yogurt.

We did frosty cakes.

- You see yourselves having a future doing culinary arts.

- Yes.

I wanna be a chef when I grow up.

- You wanna open your own restaurant?

- Yeah.

I'm gonna try.

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

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

More lime juice?

- Too spicy.

- [Micah] 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.