hi,
I just went though that with my 6 month old(I know it is a little different with an 8th month old)
It was really fustrating for me and meal time became a big fight, then I thought that he is going to accociate meal time with unhappy time.
with some advice from other moms on this forum, i backed off and let him run his own coursr, although not stopping what I usually did, meaning, I still offered him his food at the same times, and laughed a lot at him, and pretending I was eating it to. i also made a point of eating my meals in front of him, and let him try food of my plate(mashed potato say)
It took about 1.5-2weeks for him to start eating again and we ar right back to happy meal times.
don't know what caused it, thought maybe teething but wasn't really showing any signs as he had cut 2 teeth the week b4.
stange little creatures they are

hth