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Hi~
I grew up in a family where tasting everything was the rule, and making pukey faces to food was stigmatized. (I then went on to receive culinary education) The eating habits of my husband's family were exactly opposite to mine: no one was encouraged to try new foods, m-i-l cooks the same 4 or 5 dishes over and over and over, and they'd rather starve than eat something "suspicious".
In spite of all this, hubby didn't get the picky gene, and he eats everything...

I have noticed that each of my kids seems to have an inherent palate and they are quite distinct. We adopted so there's no reason they would necessarily reflect our tastes. And they weren't breastfed (which I understand can impact developing taste buds). We generally have taken the same approach to food with both and the results have been different. My five year old likes some typical kid food--cereals, yogurt, french fries, pizza. But if I ask for his input on dinner he'll usually choose tofu/broccoli/rice or else something with salmon. He hates anything too acidic and despises avocado. My almost two year old adores avocado, sucks on lemons and turns her nose up at tofu. It's so interesting to see how they evolve. Our policy is to have one family meal, it includes various items (starch/protein/veg/fruit/dessert), seconds on anything but dessert and no rules about how much to eat. It seems to work out very well and we have few battles about food here.

My 5 year old is very resistant to new things and is very picky about what he *will* eat. He inherited that from me (unfortunately!) He was much more adventurous as a baby, but as he has gotten older, he's become very selective.

My 2 year old will eat nearly anything and will try everything! he loves to eat. We always offer both kids a variety of stuff. My hope is that my 5 year old will grow out of his picky ways.

When my daughter was young and would state she disliked one food or another I would always tell her she would probably learn to like this when she was older. My message was always that food preferences are ever evolving and develop as we age. I'd generally ask her to take as many bites as her age but not fight if she was clearly repulsed by something. She is an adventuresome eater today as a young adult but still dislikes the texture of mushrooms. :)

My girls will eat anything and everything. My son will eat nothing - except cereal, bread, and the like. If we're lucky, he'll eat broccoli and a little chicken, but only with BBQ sauce (which disgusts me)! The way I see it, our job is to provide nutritious food, and their job is to decide whether to eat it. I don't push or praise. Food is fuel.

When I was little, my mother did make us try things, but that's not what got us eating more variety. She was young and single and often made things for herself to eat, thinking we wouldn't like it. Salsa, or spinach dip, or crab meat... We'd ask what she was eating and she'd usually say "I really don't think you guys will like this."

And we always did end up eating whatever she was having. I don't think she was trying to do it, but that is what got my brothers and me eating just about anything.

oddly enough, my husband and i would love to make sure that our child hates broccoli. it's the one food that we both agree is the most foul thing ever (sorry for broccoli lovers, we just can't personally stand the way it tastes, looks, smells, or anything remotely related to broccoli)...our biggest fear (not really) is that one day our child will come home after having had broccoli at someone else's house and ask us to cook it for them.

other than that...we're both adventurous food eaters, will usually give everything a least one try. both our mothers urged the "try it...if you don't like it then you don't have to have it again". my mom also knew the veggies that i hated the most and would be kind enought to put a small amount on my plate, but firm enough that i knew i had to eat even that small portion...

The rule in our home was to taste everything, and only after tasting could we say, "No thank you, I don't care for it." My brother and I learned to eat a lot of things that normal little kids don't (oysters on the halfshell for example). I still try new things all the time and have to work to encourage my husband to expand his culinary horizons.

lovelainie-

My mom was exactly the same. She'd make stuff and say "you're not going to like this" and then we'd absolutely want to try it! I think she learned pretty quickly that we liked to be more adventurous -- one thing she would do is serve foods in fancy serving bowls, etc. - she never ever gave us plastic cups or plates after the age of 5, I think it made even "yucky" foods look more appetizing. When I watch my neices and nephews eat dinner I am rather grossed out by what they're eating - a pancake on a plastic plate for dinner. Ok, I admit I'm not a mom (yet) but I really don't blame the kids for being fussy about dinner - it looks terrible!