My mother had a sign in her kitchen: You have two choices for dinner: Take it or Leave it.
The old man's philosophy was you have one choice. I put food on the table, you're going to eat it. When, and how cold it is when you do is up to you, but you're going to eat it, because you aren't eating anything else until you do.
I was a little kinder and gentler with my boy. His mom was a fan of stuffing canned spaghetti, ravioli and such down him for dinner. When he was with me, I cooked, and he wasn't a fan of much of anything that didn't come out of a can or fast food restaurant. But whatever I served up, he had to at least take a few bites. If he didn't like it, I wouldn't force it. That was our deal. As a result, that kid would (and still does at almost 30) eat almost anything, and would try anything once. And he found there wasn't much he didn't like. I remember back 8 years or so ago when I introduced him to raw oysters. The look on his face. But he put some horseradish and cocktail sauce on that thing and went at it. Then asked if we could order up another dozen. Also a fan of sushi despite his initial reservations about it. And pizzed he can't find any decent sushi in Ks.
As for food allergies, the old lady can't touch gluten anymore. More than a couple bites of bread or real pasta, and she blows up like someone is pumping air into her stomach. It is something to see. She knows not to screw with me too bad, or I'll substitute real pasta for the gf stuff, lol.
