Hey! We’re Tastori (And We’re So Glad You’re Here)
Our Purpose
Picture this: It’s 6:47 PM on a Tuesday. Michelle’s standing in her Denver kitchen, staring at three kids who’ve just declared that the quinoa bowl she spent forty minutes perfecting “looks weird.” Her youngest is crying, her middle child is sneaking crackers from the pantry, and her oldest just asked if cereal counts as dinner.
That moment? That’s exactly why Tastori exists.
We’ve all been there – that exhausting space between wanting to nourish our families well and facing the daily reality of tiny humans who think anything green is automatically suspicious. It was actually that specific Tuesday night disaster that sparked our first conversation between the three of us. Michelle texted our group chat: “I’m failing at feeding my own children. How am I supposed to help other families?”
And that’s when everything clicked. We weren’t failing – we were just trying to navigate one of parenting’s biggest challenges without a real roadmap. So we decided to create one together.
Our Mission
Every single day, we’re in our kitchens testing, tweaking, and sometimes spectacularly failing at creating meals that work for real families. Michelle burns things (regularly), Elissa over-analyzes every ingredient (occupational hazard), and Aria experiments with flavor combinations that sometimes make her kids beg for “normal food.”
But here’s what we do differently: we test every single recipe with actual picky eaters. We factor in real-life constraints like busy schedules, tight budgets, and kids who change their minds about favorite foods faster than you can say “chicken nuggets.” Because honestly? The 87,000 families who trust us with their dinner plans deserve recipes that actually work when it’s 5:30 PM and everyone’s hangry.
We’re not here to add pressure to your already full plate. We’re here to make feeding your family feel less like a battle and more like the joyful connection it’s meant to be.
Our Vision
Imagine walking into your kitchen without that familiar knot of dread about what to make for dinner. Picture your kids actually excited about trying new foods – not because you bribed them, but because they’re genuinely curious. Envision family meals that bring everyone together instead of turning into negotiations.
That’s the world we’re working toward. Not some Pinterest-perfect fantasy where every meal is Instagram-worthy, but real kitchens where families connect over food that nourishes both bodies and relationships. We dream of a generation of kids who grow up understanding that food is fuel, culture, creativity, and love all mixed together in one beautiful, messy experience.
Our Core Values
Real Food for Real Families: If Aria’s 8-year-old can’t pronounce an ingredient, we question whether it belongs in a “kid-friendly” recipe. We believe in whole foods that don’t require a chemistry degree to understand – but we also know that sometimes boxed mac and cheese saves the day, and that’s perfectly okay too.
Every Child Deserves Delicious Nutrition: This isn’t about perfection – it’s about progress. Michelle learned this the hard way when she spent months trying to force kale on her daughter, only to discover that roasted sweet potato fries were her gateway to loving vegetables. Sometimes the path to good nutrition is through foods that taste amazing first.
Culture is Connection: Aria’s passion for this started when her own daughter asked why their family’s traditional foods were “different.” Food carries our stories, our heritage, our love. We celebrate the beautiful diversity of family food traditions while helping kids develop adventurous palates.
Honesty About the Hard Days: We’ll tell you when recipes flop (looking at you, cauliflower pizza crust v4.0), when our own kids reject something we were sure they’d love, and when we resort to cereal for dinner. Because learning from our disasters saves you from yours, and knowing you’re not alone makes all the difference.
Science-Backed, Heart-Led: Elissa brings the nutritional expertise, but we all bring the mama hearts that understand feeding kids is about so much more than nutrients. We combine evidence-based nutrition with the emotional realities of family feeding, because both matter enormously.
Meet Our Expert Team (The Humans Behind the Screen)
Michelle Hart – Pediatric Nutrition Coach (Plus Recovering Perfect Parent)
Age 36 | Denver, Colorado | michelle@tastori.com
I’ll be honest – I became a pediatric nutrition coach partly because I was desperate to figure out how to feed my own kids. After my youngest went through a phase where he’d only eat white foods (and I mean only – rice, bread, crackers, and bananas), I realized that all my training meant nothing if I couldn’t actually get nutritious food into real children.
My journey started eight years ago when my oldest daughter was diagnosed with sensory processing differences that made eating incredibly challenging. Traditional feeding advice didn’t work for us, and I felt like I was failing her daily. That’s when I dove deep into pediatric nutrition, sensory feeding therapy, and the psychology of childhood eating behaviors.
Now, as a certified Pediatric Nutrition Coach with specialized training in feeding therapy, I work with families navigating everything from picky eating to food allergies to cultural food integration. I’ve helped over 2,000 families create peaceful mealtimes, and I’m still learning something new from every child I work with.
The best part? My own kids now eat vegetables voluntarily (most days), and my formerly rice-only son just asked for seconds on roasted broccoli. Progress, not perfection, friends.
Elissa Normen – Registered Dietitian (And Former Picky Eater Champion)
Age 34 | Portland, Oregon | elissa@tastori.com
Plot twist: I was the kid who lived on chicken nuggets and plain pasta until I was twelve. My poor mother tried everything – hiding vegetables, making food fun, bribing me with dessert. Nothing worked until I went to summer camp and realized I was missing out on all the good stuff because I was too scared to try new things.
That experience shaped everything about how I approach childhood nutrition today. As a Registered Dietitian with a Masters in Nutritional Sciences and specialized training in pediatric feeding, I understand both the science of nutrition and the very real psychology of why kids resist new foods.
I’ve spent the last nine years working with families to bridge the gap between “what kids should eat” and “what kids will actually eat.” My research on flavor exposure in early childhood has been published in three peer-reviewed journals, but honestly, the real learning happens in my consultations with families who are navigating mealtime challenges.
The breakthrough moment in my career came when I stopped trying to “trick” kids into eating healthy foods and started helping them develop genuine curiosity about new flavors. Turns out, kids are way smarter than we give them credit for, and they respond better to honesty and involvement than they do to sneaky tactics.
Aria Chen – Family Chef (And Cultural Food Bridge-Builder)
Age 38 | Austin, Texas | aria@tastori.com
My food story started in two kitchens – my Chinese grandmother’s, where I learned that food is love made visible, and my American mom’s, where I learned that feeding a family efficiently is its own form of caring. Growing up between these two food cultures taught me that there’s no single “right” way to nourish a family.
I’ve been a professional chef for fifteen years, but becoming a mom completely changed how I think about food. Suddenly, it wasn’t just about creating beautiful, delicious meals – it was about raising kids who could appreciate both their heritage and their curiosity. When my oldest daughter came home from kindergarten asking why her lunch “looked different,” I knew I needed to help other families navigate this same challenge.
As a certified Family Chef with additional training in cultural food integration and childhood development, I specialize in creating recipes that honor family traditions while introducing kids to new flavors and experiences. I’ve developed feeding curricula for three school districts and consulted with pediatric hospitals on cultural competency in family nutrition programs.
But my favorite moments happen right here at home, when I watch my kids confidently explain to their friends why they love dim sum, or when they excitedly tell me about a new flavor combination they want to try. Food has the power to teach kids that diversity is delicious, and I’m passionate about helping families discover that together.
How We Actually Do This Work
Here’s what happens behind the scenes at Tastori: Every recipe goes through what we lovingly call “The Gauntlet.” First, we develop it based on sound nutritional principles and flavor science. Then comes the real test – we take it to our own kitchens and let our kids (and their friends) have at it.
Michelle tests everything with her three kids, who range from adventurous eater to “vegetables are suspicious” to “I have strong opinions about food textures.” Elissa runs recipes through her nutrition analysis software and then tests them with her consulting families who have varying dietary needs and cultural preferences. Aria focuses on flavor development and cultural authenticity, making sure our recipes honor food traditions while being accessible to families from all backgrounds.
We track everything – which recipes kids ask for again, what modifications parents make, how long recipes actually take (not just how long we think they should take), and what questions families have about ingredients or techniques. If a recipe doesn’t work for at least 80% of the families who try it, we go back to the drawing board.
Our research process includes reviewing current pediatric nutrition studies, consulting with feeding therapists and food scientists, and staying connected with the latest research on childhood eating behaviors and cultural food practices. But honestly, the most valuable research happens when parents email us with their real experiences – both successes and failures.
Why Trust Us? (Fair Question!)
Look, the internet is full of people claiming to be family food experts. Here’s why we’re different: we combine genuine expertise with radical honesty about our own struggles and failures.
Between the three of us, we have two degrees in nutrition science, certifications in pediatric nutrition coaching and feeding therapy, fifteen years of professional chef experience, and specialized training in cultural food integration. We’ve been published in peer-reviewed journals, consulted with hospitals and school districts, and helped over 5,000 families create more peaceful mealtimes.
But more importantly, we’re in the trenches with you every single day. Our kids still have food preferences that make us scratch our heads, we still have weeks where dinner planning feels overwhelming, and we still discover new things about feeding families that humble us completely.
The families we work with tell us that our combination of expertise and authenticity is what makes the difference. We know the science, but we also know what it’s like when that science meets a hangry four-year-old who’s decided that the meal you spent an hour preparing “smells funny.”
Our Community (That’s You!)
You’ve taught us as much as we’ve hopefully taught you. It was reader feedback that led us to develop our “15-minute emergency meal” series. Your questions about budget-friendly nutrition inspired our “feeding a family of four for under $50 a week” challenge. Your stories about navigating cultural differences in feeding helped shape our most popular recipe collections.
We love hearing from you – your successes, your disasters, your questions, and your suggestions. Some of our best content comes directly from conversations in our comments section or emails from families who are trying to solve specific challenges. You make us better at what we do, and we’re grateful for that partnership every single day.
Currently, our community includes over 87,000 families from all fifty states and twelve countries. We’re teachers and doctors and factory workers and stay-at-home parents. We’re single parents and married couples and grandparents raising grandchildren. We’re families with food allergies, cultural dietary practices, budget constraints, and kids with varying degrees of eating adventurousness.
What unites us? We all want to feed our families well, and we all need support to make that happen in our real, imperfect lives.
Our Promise to You
We promise to test every recipe thoroughly before sharing it, to be honest when things don’t work, and to continuously update our content based on new research and your feedback. We fact-check all nutritional claims with current peer-reviewed research, and we clearly distinguish between evidence-based recommendations and our personal experiences.
When we make mistakes (and we do), we own them publicly and fix them quickly. When research emerges that changes our recommendations, we update our content and let you know what’s changed and why. We’re committed to growing and learning alongside you, not pretending we have all the answers.
We also promise to keep it real about the challenges of family feeding. You’ll never find us claiming that feeding kids is easy or that there’s one magical approach that works for everyone. Instead, you’ll find us sharing practical solutions, honest struggles, and evidence-based strategies that you can adapt to your own family’s unique needs.
Let’s Stay Connected (We Actually Read Our Emails)
General Questions & Recipe Help: contact@tastori.com – We typically respond within 24-48 hours, and yes, we personally read every single email. Michelle handles most recipe questions, Elissa tackles nutrition concerns, and Aria loves hearing about your cultural food adventures.
Collaboration & Media: partnerships@tastori.com – For brand partnerships, media interviews, speaking engagements, or collaboration opportunities. We’re selective but always open to conversations that align with our mission.
Join Our Newsletter: Get our weekly meal planning guide, new recipe notifications, and our monthly “Real Talk” newsletter where we share our biggest kitchen disasters and parenting food moments. No spam, ever – just useful stuff that makes feeding your family a little easier.
Social Media: Find us sharing behind-the-scenes kitchen chaos, real family meal moments, and answering your questions in real-time. We’re most active on Instagram (@tastori) and Facebook (Tastori Family Nutrition).
Technical Support
Website Issues & Account Help: support@tastori.com
Having trouble logging in, downloading recipe cards, or accessing your account? Our tech support specialist Jake personally handles every technical support request. He’s incredibly patient with non-tech-savvy folks (trust us, we’ve tested this extensively), and usually resolves issues within 24-48 hours. If it’s urgent, mention that in your subject line and he’ll prioritize it.
Careers
Join Our Growing Team: careers@tastori.com
Want to join our beautifully chaotic team? We’re always looking for passionate people who get excited about making family nutrition accessible and enjoyable. Right now we’re actively hiring for content creators with nutrition backgrounds, family food photographers, and community managers who love engaging with parents about feeding challenges.
Our team culture values work-life balance, authentic communication, and continuous learning. We offer competitive compensation, professional development opportunities, and the chance to make a real difference in how families approach food together. Even if we don’t have current openings that match your skills, we love hearing from talented folks who share our mission.
For Writers
Guest Contributors & Freelance Opportunities: writers@tastori.com
Love writing about family nutrition, childhood feeding, or cultural food traditions? We’re always scouting for contributors who can blend personal experience with solid research – and who aren’t afraid to share their kitchen disasters along with their successes.
We look for writers who understand that feeding families is about so much more than just nutrition, who can write in an accessible and authentic voice, and who have either professional expertise or deep personal experience in family food topics. We compensate all contributors fairly and provide editorial support to help you create your best work.
Send your pitch with 2-3 published samples and tell us what unique perspective you’d bring to our community. Fair warning: we’re picky about voice and authenticity, but we’re incredibly supportive of our contributor family once you’re part of the team.
