When I was a kid, there were so many things that I didn't eat... Prawns, crabs, squids, pineapples, vegetables, and many more... It's not that I had allergies or anything... It's just that I refused to eat them because they looked weird...

Therefore, most of the time, I only ate rice with gravy and fried fish or chicken... Yeap, only those... I also ate only fruits that I considered normal like bananas, mangos, watermelons, and durian... Other fruits like jackfruit, buah salak, pineapples were weird for me and thus I refused to even smell them... 

I have four siblings; me, two younger brothers and an older one... Now, the oldest of us four ate everything even until now... Just give him any kind of meal and he'll devour it without questioning... Budu, petai, jering, buah salak, jackfruit, pineapples... Everything!

Whereas, my younger brothers were like me... They only eat certain food that they deemed as normal... They still do until today...

Well, for me, the period of not eating seafood and pineapples and vegetables came to an end after I continued my studies at UiTM Kampus Bandaraya Melaka (KBM)... Now I'm more adventurous and keen on trying new food... Though vegetables are still not my cup of tea...

Personally, I think I changed because I hanged out and ate together with other people... My housemates and friends while I was studying at KBM ate almost everything... They introduced me to Malaccan Chinese delicacies, Korean grill and buffet, western food and etc... My wife helped me overcome vegetable-rejection  by forcing me eat greens... 

I came to a conclusion that I refused to eat most food is because my family seldom ate together... Yeah, my family is not the type who sit together at a table during meals... Most of the time, we prefer to eat separately... I would always pick up a comic book and eat while reading it... My younger bros usually watch DVDs and cartoons... Ma and dad watch television shows... 

I guess that's why my brothers and I don't eat budu, ulam and petai while my parents are crazy about them...

My oldest brother is an exception because he was raised by my grandmother... 

Based on that, my point is, if you want your child to eat the things that you eat and not be picky about food, you must eat together with them... Let them watch what and how you eat and they would follow... Children are fast learners and they learn by observing others...