Meet the VitaFam: Jim Cook, wife Renee, 3 Girls

VitaDads - we see you!  And we know you’re more involved than any previous generation of fathers when it comes to feeding the family, with many of you even being the primary cook, as it is for Jim, girl dad extraordinaire. Between rousing rounds of Pretty Pretty Princess (he wears a tiara well), Jim and wife Renee (who we met in a previous post) take time to introduce their young family to a wide array of diverse cuisines inspired by their love of travel.

So, do they always eat everything you make?

Ha, I wish. On the whole, they’re fairly open in terms of new flavors and formats - our oldest (6) loves to make sushi - but rather than raw fish we use smoked salmon. One of her newest favorites is steamed buns which she first tried at a Columbus, Ohio restaurant that made them kid friendly by using them for pizza and s'mores. Now if only they’d do a broccoli version.

And are the littles equally adventurous?

The younger ones (twins, age 2) are in a stage where they love something one day, but the next time, it’s a hard no. We’ve always fed them the same thing and when they were learning to eat they liked everything but over time they’ve developed distinct taste buds (to match their distinct personalities).

So what do you do to balance out all of those preferences?

My wife jokes that we could serve one plate of food and between the three of them.  We don’t customize their plates, but once they’ve each tried everything, we allow them to share.   And by choosing Vitaminis as a better beverage, we know they’re at minimum getting a good baseline.