Chef in the Shelter teaches homeless teens to cook

Last week, Seattle chef Ethan Stowell drained a huge pot of rigatoni into a colander, but for once his food was not about to be served to paying customers at one of his 10 restaurants.

A new nonprofit called Chef in the Shelter has homeless teens cooking with local chefs and serving the special meal to their moms. Last week was the first lesson at Union Gospel Mission’s Hope Place, where homeless mothers and their children can live and recover from addiction, for up to two years. The hotel-style rooms don’t have kitchens and everyone eats their meals in a sort of cafeteria, so cooking is a novelty.

“This is a good lesson, I don’t cook that much. I usually make Top Ramen or macaroni,” says 16-year-old Mariah Leavitt.

She details the spicy sausage pasta they cooked, that usually sells for $16 a plate at Stowell’s restaurant, Tavolata.

“We put sausage and tomatoes and parsley and grated cheese.”

After they cooked, the kids plated the meals to Stowell’s standards and served their moms.

“All of a sudden they were all waiters and waitresses and they were excited for their moms to get to eat what they made,” says Hope Place’s Youth Program Coordinator, Teylar Greer.

Then the kids sat down with their moms for a family meal. A rarity, says Mariah’s mom, Lisa Leavitt.

“I think that it’s a very good experience for her to cook. I want to teach her how to cook. This is her first time probably spending any time in the kitchen and learning how to cook a real meal. I haven’t spent a lot of time with her, one-on-one, like that.”

That’s because Mariah just moved in with Lisa after 16 years of living apart.

“I’ve been in her life, her whole life, but she has never officially lived with me. She’s lived with her aunt since she was born. So it’s her first time ever really coming to stay with me one-on-one. We’re doing good, we’re bonding and we’re spending a lot of one-on-one time together getting to know each other.”

Teylar says this is just what these families need.

“We want to focus on healing and families and bringing families together. Eating at the table together is a big way of doing that so I’m glad to see everybody all together.”

Cooking and serving the food inspires confidence and self esteem and Chef in the Shelter founder, Sara McKay, hopes it can make a small difference in these kids’ lives.

“At any given point in time, we can change the trajectory of our lives, at any age. It’s really sad to me that there’s a part of our population that loses hope at such a young age. I think that if we can find hope with whatever the activity may be, then it’s a start in the right direction.”

Ethan Stowell says its also a way to introduce kids to real, whole foods.

“They’re young kids, they’re super impressionable, they’re energetic, they’re positive. I mean, let’s get them eating some good food. You know, they’re sponges. I made them this salad and they were like, ‘I think I had it at Olive Garden once,’ and then they eat it and they’re like, ‘Oh, that was such a good salad!'”

The kids also got the opportunity to learn about herbs and foods that they’ve never tried before.

“There was this ingredient, it looked like salad, I had to cut up. It smelled really good, but I had never cooked with it before. It was weird,” says 13-year-old Astajuia Williams, about a bunch of fresh oregano.

But she truly loved the meal she got to help prepare.

“I was like, this is so delicious! I want some more!”