The animated character Boss Baby (voiced by Alec Baldwin) takes fussy eating to a whole new level, declaring: "You think I'm a fussy eater? ... You want to get me to eat, you'll have to wait and buy my book — 'Here Comes the Plane, There Goes Your Mind — A Guide to Mealtime Negotiation.'"

Thirty percent to 50% of parents contend with a fussy eater, and there have been volumes written about how to get a child to accept new foods. Rule No. 1: Kids have to taste and swallow a food at least 10 times before deciding if they like it or not.

Other favorites include mixing the “bad” with the “good” (a banana-spinach shake or whole-wheat pasta with tomato sauce), or trying various cooking methods (steaming, baking, sauteing) to see if that improves acceptance.

It's also good to model adventurous eating habits. And relaxing your rules is helpful. Studies show that parents who have strict rules about the foods their kids can and cannot eat or are very demanding about mealtimes often create a fussy eater.

But here's a solution I bet you never thought of: Change the color of the dish you serve the food on.

A study published in the journal Food Quality and Preference reveals that adult picky eaters (they usually start out as food-fussy kids) find salty foods acceptable on white plates and reject them on red plates. Blue plates seem to cut both ways. Non-picky eaters didn't think colors affected the flavor.

Experiment with the color of your child's dishes. It's worth a try.