Guest's unfinished food-do you ask?

[shootingstar]

I feel really really sorry for them if we go to an asian restaurant and all they can do is order fried rice, because they know they like that. If I'm going out with those friends, I will go to a burger joint or something like that and get a salad. If I'm having them over, I'll order pizzas or I'll make spaghetti or I'll put the grill on and bbq some meat & burgers. My sister's daughter told me a month or so ago "My Mommy says you only know how to make spaghetti, but you're really good at that" and that's because - my sister & daughter = picky eaters, they get spaghetti with a meat sauce - they like it, it's easy for me to make and they can't annoy me too much by being picky with it. I will say that my sister's 8 year old who can be picky, does eat a lot of vegetables and blue cheese and such like that, that I wouldn't have touched when I was 8.

Maybe there's hope since she likes blue cheese. Seriously.
There IS value when a child is exposed in a casual, positive manner to other healthy food prepared and offered by extended family members --grandparents, aunts , uncles, etc.

I know my oldest niece and nephew wouldn't have had as great diversity in their taste for Asian food if they had not eaten other stuff from other family members, outside of their parents, which is not normally eaten at their home. It's important that adults themselves don't make a big deal how certain foods look (ew, ugh, etc.) unless it really is unhealthy.

Relook at your role, auntie. But take tiny steps in this area.

As for only eating fried rice in an Asian restaurant....yea, sad. Ignoring 1,000+ years of complex, amazing gastronomy. It's like having only French onion soup and ignoring the whole wonderful legacy of other French dishes.