I'll throw in my 2 cents on this topic, which has been discussed long
and frequently previously on Lactnet.

Babies should start eating when they are trying to reach into the
parents' plate and grab their food.  This usually occurs around 5-6
months of age.  And, as far as I am concerned, there is no need to have
an order of introduction or restricting foods to one per week, a
perverse approach if ever there was one.  If the first thing a baby
grabs is the steak, then let him have the steak.  If allowed to choose
their own foods, babies will usually take a variety of foods so that
they get what they need.  This is a time for exploring and
experimenting, not fulfilling parents' needs or dieticians'
hallucinations about food.  Eating is for enjoyment as well as
nutrition.  Unfortunately, in much of the western world, eating food has
been replaced by eating nutrition.  (For this reason, the chief of the
nutrition committee of the Canadian Pediatric Society can stand up at
conferences and advertise McDonald's as "nutritionally good".  The fact
that the food tastes like paper mache is of no importance, it seems.)
No wonder there are so many eating problems such as anorexia and
obesity.

If the baby does grab the potato on the plate, is it respecting him as
an developing individual to take the potato away and give him cereal
because "he is not ready yet"?  Babies at 5 or 6 months do not want
"baby food", they want what the rest of the family wants.

Rules on food just drive everyone crazy.  And they are culture specific
and not rational in any case, as some of the posts have pointed out.

Jack Newman, MD, FRCPC (ranting again)