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The children of chefs eat famously well. In the case of little Ava Guarnaschelli, that privilege extends to infancy: The two-and-half-month-old daughter of Butter chef Alexandra Guarnaschelli has her mother on baby-food duty in the kitchen. And why not, says the new mother. “I’m constantly in the Greenmarket, and it seems silly for me not to cook for the person that means the most in the world to me.”

Guarnaschelli is taking vegetables and fruits and cooking them down in a pan with just a little bit of water. “I’m big on white and red carrots right now, parsnips, even some nectarines,” she tells us.“I try to cook them as quickly as possible from raw to extremely soft to max out the vitamins. Basically I cook it until it’s complete mush.” Even with that consistency, this food is likely to be an improvement over the formula that is still the baby’s main diet. Next up is a combo of romanesco and green apples, but the chef is loath to experiment: “It’s hard to tell if she likes it.”