Reddit mentions of Curious Chef Kids Cookware - 3-Piece Knife Set I Real Utensils, Dishwasher Safe, BPA-Free I Kid-Safe I Cuts Fruits & Vegetables I Small, Medium & Large, White/Green

We are not vegetarian, but I do think that plant-based is are a good place for kids to start. we've had a lot of luck with Mollie Katzen's books. The youngest likes Pretend Soup and my daughter likes Honest Pretzels.

Also, while I do think kids should learn how to use a knife, if your kids are like my 4yo who would lose a finger or an eye within 30 seconds, these are great.

I am getting this for my kids. Amazon has a ton of child-safe kitchen gadgets.

Curious Chef 3-Piece Nylon Knife Set

Only semi-related, but let me suggest these: https://www.amazon.com/Curious-Chef-3-Piece-Nylon-Knife/dp/B002Q5YH9C/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1469107405&sr=8-2&keywords=kid+knives

They can actually cut food better than a butter knife (my almost-6 year old daughter sawed straight through a peach pit the other day), and you can't cut skin with them even if you try.

My son is 2 1/2, but he's been interested in cooking for a long time. I would let him help by rinsing the rice or beans. I just bought him these (Curious Chef 3-Piece Nylon Knife Set https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002Q5YH9C/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_pev.ybE4KN2K6) to help chopping veggies and fruits. When he was younger it was just more mixing, pouring, and "washing" dishes.

http://www.amazon.com/Curious-Chef-3-Piece-Nylon-Knife/dp/B002Q5YH9C

Plastic serrated knives!

If you feel adventurous a pariing knife with a rounded tip would also work (like stafty scissors)

Got these and a few other kitchen items for my son when he began showing interest in working with me in the kitchen. Sorry, idk how to post a proper link on mobile.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B002Q5YH9C/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1488242162&sr=8-4&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=curious+chef+sets&dpPl=1&dpID=41iuHDwg7PL&ref=plSrch

1. Make sure allllll of the important stuff is baby-proofed (e.g. knives/sharp objects, poisons, the stove, markers/crayons, etc.)
   
2. Pick your battles. Is it really that big a deal that she's getting into the kitchen cabinets? Sure, she will make a mess, but that's what toddlers do. If she wants to pull out all the canned food or storage containers and climb inside the cabinets, is she hurting herself? Is it really any different than dumping out all her blocks or rummaging through her toys?
   
3. Involve her in what you are doing. My son (21 months) likes to watch us cook. We build a kitchen helper stool so my son can stand at the counter and watch what we're doing. He likes to "help" so I'll give him his own bowl and measuring cup and a little bit of flour to "bake" or a cutting board with a plastic safety knife and a stalk of broccoli so he can "help" cut up vegetables too.
   
4. Get out of the house at least once a day. We go to the park a lot so he can run around and be crazy without making a mess in our house. He loves to chase birds and it tires the crap out of him. Or we go to the farmer's market or the store. We also have sidewalk chalk and bubbles in our backyard. Yes, he gets messy, but it keeps him occupied for a long time. If you have a lot of inclement weather, get some rain pants, a rain coat, and rain boots and go splash in puddles.
   
5. Look for unconventional places to play. My son loves to play in the car and I can easily kill 30 minutes or more there. I sit in the passenger seat, roll the windows down enough for a breeze to blow through, put the parking break on, and let him mess with all the buttons or wipers or whatever.
   
6. Get a membership to your local children's museum, zoo, play gym, etc. We go about once a month and it's a great backup activity when we can't figure out what else to do.
   
7. Let her wander around the house on her own. As long as you've baby-proofed and you're checking on her every couple of minutes, you don't need to be her constant play buddy. We let our son play on his own a few times a day and just check in on him every 2-3 minutes or so to make sure he's not putting something in the toilet. Now, I'm not saying let your child play completely unsupervised, but I'll take 20 minutes to do the dishes or some dinner prep and just poke my head around the corner to see what he's doing in the bedroom or his play area.

My daughter has been using these knives since she was around 3. Maybe consider getting some for your household as well and tell your son they're for him?

My daughter is also four, and has a very varied diet for a four year old. We gave her all sorts of odd and multicultural foods as she was growing up, and she always seemed willing to try new stuff.

Lately, though, sometimes she sits down at the table and if it's something new or something she hasn't had in a while she looks at it and goes, "I didn't want that!" and refuses to eat. So it just seems to be a phase.

We have a couple rules about eating. One is that you have to try a little bit of everything (only exception - hot/spicy foods are 100% optional). If you still don't like it after having tried it then you can get something else like a cold sandwich while we have a hot home-cooked meal. Rule two is that in order to get a "treat" (i.e. dessert) you must eat what daddy cooked. We will happily swap daddy's home-cooked meal for a sandwich without complaints, but then no treat.

Allowing the possibility to swap for a more inoffensive meal can take away some of the fear of foods. He may be afraid that if he hates it he'll have to eat the whole thing anyway. We take away some of that fear by lowering the threshold. We don't tell ours "you must eat the whole plate," which may be daunting, we just tell her, "you must try just a tiny bit," which seems more reasonable to her.

Usually when we remind her of these rules she tries what we put down because we hold her to it and she might go to bed with no supper if she's not willing to taste. And 99% of the time after she tastes it she goes, "I LOVE THIS" and eats up the whole thing.

Another trick I've heard is to get them involved in cooking the food. Find something for them to do to "help", even if it's uselessly handing you the vegetables to cut. I've had mine "artfully" assemble cut slices of bologna and grapes in a bowl for her lunch, or to put together her own sandwich. You can pre-measure ingredients and have him combine and stir them. They even sell knives for kids to practice with that won't cut fingers but can actually cut food. I had these recommended to me, but we haven't tried them yet.

If your kiddo feels like he had a hand in making the food, he may be more willing to taste the fruits of his labor, so to speak.

I use a plastic knife similar to this, but not this exact brand:

https://amzn.com/B002Q5YH9C

Works great

check out these plastic safety knives. got them for my 5 year old and he loves em https://www.amazon.com/Curious-Chef-TCC50029-3-Piece-Nylon/dp/B002Q5YH9C