Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

For myself, I've always kept repeating to them, "You have to try everything at least once". My kids eat frog legs, alligator, squid, steamed mussels and water-temperature oysters, along with all kinds of vegetables. With my 10-year-old, if a salad doesn't have broccoli in it, it's not ready for him to eat it, as broccoli's his favorite vegetable.

I buy new mommas little food processors. Made at home baby food is the best baby food. I recommend yams. Easy and full of vitamins, salt, butter, honey and a splash of orange juice. You can roast them in the oven then process with the salt butter honey and OJ in the processor, they store nicely for a week. Kids love them.
Be careful with string veggies they need to smooth for your child to eat.
My mom added pastina to broccoli and spinach to get us to eat it.
Short grain rice will work too BUT be careful not to constipate your little one, measure out your food.
Eggplant is good make it with olive oil roasted in the oven again and season with salt, butter and grated cheese. I would not recommend giving a toddler onions or garlic till they are at least 30 months. Gas for a child can be very painful and colicky babies cry and carry on.
Don't forget the cereal it help digestion.

I finally got around to reading "The Man Who Ate Everything" not too long ago, and Steingarten suggests, if memory serves, trying everything 8 times. Apparently this was the magic number that got him through a handful of food phobias (by the eigth attempt at a food/cuisine, he liked it), which he learned from some sort of study that found that young children will eat anything after 8 tries. It's an interesting idea...

A lot of good suggestions here. But I just wanted to acknowledge that even if you do everything "right" and feed your child perfect yummy homemade organic veggies from day one, they still might freak out at age 2-3 and start refusing to eat veggies. It happens.

To echo the above comments, I think that there is value to continue serving veggies at every meal, no matter what. I always put some serving of vegetables on my daughter's plate, even when I'm 95% sure she won't eat them. I try to vary the kind of vegetable. And at least once a day she eats some of something. I don't make a big deal of it at all, or force her to eat them, or even comment if she doesn't. It's up to her; I just serve it.

I find it can be sanity-making to keep frozen vegetables on hand. We currently have peas, beans, edamame, various Trader Joe's medleys. I heat up a small serving for her each meal. I also give her fresh veggies (carrots cut up small, fresh broccoli, fresh tomatoes) with some regularity, and I'll bake sweet potato for her from time to time.

I also regularly ask her if she wants a taste of what I'm eating. (Assuming, of course, that it is appropriate for her.) I try to encourage her to try new things, but I never want to get into a power struggle with her about it.

Finally, it's good to keep relaxed about your kid's eating habits. Toddlers and their refusal to eat can make you crazy. But after 18 months or so, they don't need as much food as you think they do. My pediatrician told me that a toddler can survive on one meal every other day! So if your kid's eating a few bites of peas here, a couple pieces of carrot there, a slice of apple there, they are getting more nutrition and sustenance than you think. Hang in there and don't trip!

rosalind is right. Just becuase your little one likes the food now, doesn't mean he or she will like it later. My 16 month old son used to scarf down the peas. He couldn't get enough of them. Now he throws them onto the floor. While this is cute and all, the point is that he doesn't eat them anymore. However, my child wants to do everything his daddy does, so anything I eat, he does too. This has a bad side as well. Since my child eats anything I do, it's starting to be that he eats ONLY what I do. So that means I have veggies all the time on my plate :)

My kids (6 and 3) are good vegetable eaters. Here is what works for me:

1) They go grocery shopping and choose the vegetables that they want to eat.
2) We don't try to get them to eat vegetables that they just don't like. Neither likes lettuce, so we don't serve it.
3) Let them help with the cooking. They like to help cut the food and put it in the pan.
4) My kids like their vegetables cooked fairly well, softer than I like; so I overcook them a little and always add a little salt and pepper.
5) Make it clear that it is part of a healthy dinner. If they don't eat them, they don't get any dessert or other snacks after the meal. That tends to resolve most issues.

Sorry for the double post, but after living with a French family for 6 months, I know that their children are not always paragons of great eating. I know that they often struggle with the same issues of getting kids to eat their vegetables.

The thing that they do that helps is that they typically get fresh vegetables (rather than frozen) and they sit at a table as a family.

SamTheButcher - it sounds like your former boss and my parents shared the same philosophy. Growing up, I knew that dinner is whatever my mom cooked for that night (thank goodness, she's a fantastic cook!). My brother, who is a very picky eater until today, and I never complained or requested any special meals. We knew that if we didn't eat whatever my mom gave us, there won't be any snack or other special meals to substitute. Perhaps this has something to do with Korean culture and how Koreans raise children, i.e. children must respect their parents and elders, etc.

Also, I think if eating veggies aren't made into a big deal, kids tend not to resist eating them. My nephew who is three eats pretty much everything. When my brother and his wife introduce new food to him, they don't make a big deal out of it (no rewarding him for trying it, etc.). And they eat it with him.