Neophobia 101: When picky eaters confound Ethicureanish
intentions  istock_girlwithfriesMy four-year old ate a vegetable
frittata the other day. Mind you, this hardly ranks among the
most staggering of childhood achievements. It's not exactly up
there with the 2-year-old who gained admission to Mensa, or the
kid who paints like Rembrandt, or the 13-year old best-selling
author. But in our house, it's a reason to celebrate.  She is
what they call "neophobic." Which is just a fancy way of saying
that she's a picky eater.  Now, I know that the moment I put
those two words down - picky eater - plenty of people out there
have already made their judgment about our family: Picky eater?
That's your fault, lady. If you simply exposed her to good food,
she'd eat it, of course.  Except you're wrong.  In the case of
my 8-year-old, I'd say that would have been a fair criticism -
we started wrong with that kid, began her food career with items
from boxes, marketed specifically for toddlers - starches and
fats and vitamin f