The problem my wife and I face is our daughter always sticks to food that she's familiar with and likes. Whenever we have new food items, she always stays away without even trying.
And I realize many parents face the same problem. Fortunately, Dave of Daddy Daze has written an interesting post on this. It's not the usual "how to make your kids eat stuff" though.
He applies a psychological approach called "shaping." All in all, there are seven steps. Three of them are the prep work. The rest of the steps are when "shaping" is taking shape. The steps are…darn, why don't you hop over and read it. Dave has done a great job detailing how he successfully got the kids to enjoy salmon and brown rice:
7 steps to end mealtime battles forever
You'll see an example of what "shaping" is all about there. Don't worry, nothing technical.