This is just an excuse for me to talk about Matt Damon, and another subject that I have much more personal experience with (unfortunately), kids being picky eaters. Hot dad Matt Damon was at a fundraiser called Cooking Live, to benefit a group called The Family Reach Foundation. Damon got involved with the cause thanks to his brother and sister-in-law. The Family Reach Foundation provides support to families with children suffering from cancer. (Damon’s dad was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2010.) Damon explained how he cooks for his daughters, and it was really sweet. He said he just cooks simple food like pasta and steamed broccoli. As a mom with a kid who will only eat specific foods, I can relate. Damon has daughters Alexia, 14, Isabella, 6, Gia, 4, and Stella, who turns two next month.

“I’m a terrible cook, but I do a little bit of it at home,” Damon, 41, tells PEOPLE at New York’s Cooking Live fundraiser, held Tuesday and benefiting the Family Reach Foundation. “I’m relegated to kids’ fare and I can make more of the functional stuff.”

Case in point? A favorite dish the Elysium actor frequently makes for daughters Isabella, 6, Gia, 4, and Stella, 23 months, as well as Alexia, 14, only contains three ingredients.

“I cook pasta with butter and steam broccoli,” says Damon. “It’s all about getting enough healthy food in front of them every three hours.”

The trick to vegetables, the Oscar winner says, is that “it’s all about starting early.”

“My wife [Luciana] and I introduced it to them at a very young age and they just don’t know any different,” he admits. “Luckily, I found out all three of my youngest girls love broccoli. There are times where I can’t get them to eat protein or a little piece of fish because they are going crazy over the broccoli. Sometimes they’re the ones bribing me to eat more of my vegetables.”

Especially when it’s Brussels sprouts being served — Damon doesn’t like the taste.

“That was always a tough one for me — and I was never crazy about cauliflower either,” he shares. “But I grew up eating a lot of salad. My mother made a salad with every single meal we had, so I was raised thinking that’s how you eat. It’s a good balance that I’m trying to teach to my own kids.”

[From People]

What I wouldn’t do to get my kid to eat a salad. Believe me, I’ve tried. Did you know that it’s genetic whether or not broccoli tastes bitter to you? I saw a kids’ science show about it. My son eats broccoli, and he used to eat pasta with butter all the time. Now he prefers rice, chicken, green beans and red peppers. (He’ll eat some other fruits and vegetables too, usually uncooked and always separated.) It’s hard to get him to eat anything new or with sauce on it, unless one of his grandmothers makes it for him. If I make a new dish I’m lucky if he tries it. So in that case I can relate to Damon. You make what the kids will eat, there’s less drama, and it’s much healthier for them than fast food or something from a restaurant. Why did “chicken nuggets” and “pizza” become kids food? (Not that we don’t eat those too.)

This just makes me love Matt Damon more. He has picky daughters, and he’ll make exactly what they’ll eat. I get the sense he gets down on the floor and plays with them too. He’s probably even game for tea parties and dolls.

Here’s the trailer for Promised Land, the film that Damon wrote with Jon Krasinski, who also stars. It looks SO good. Damon plays a representative for a natural gas company who convinces farmers to open their land for drilling. It’s out January 11.

Here’s Matt at the airport with his family on 8-16-12. Credit: FameFlynet