Just to give an alternative view, Zander was weaned using a method called baby-led weaning which involves allowing baby to self-feed 'normal' (ie. unpureed) foods from the start (the start being 6 months or later). We used mashed foods but mainly finger foods and Zander now eats almost anything and most of it using his hands - this includes yogurt and porridge, extremely messy but great fun!
IMHO allowing your baby to experiment with finger foods encourages your baby to learn a pincer grip - Zander had great fun picking the peas out of his dinner this evening
Food will normally only get to the back of a baby’s throat in one of three ways; moved there by your LO using his tongue (this is something babies cannot do until they're skilled at chewing which is nature's way of ensuring that they're unlikely to choke), moved there by the effect of a baby sucking, eg. sucking pureed food off a spoon, moved there by gravity because baby is tilted back to be fed or to play with food or small objects. So long as you sit your LO up, avoid giving him small hard foods like nuts, allow him to determine what goes into his mouth and stay with him while he experiments with food, you are minimising the risks of him choking. I still think it's very important to know what to do should that emergency arise though.
I basically let Zander have a go at most foods, so long as they don't have added salt or sugar. Fruit and veg is best given in a chip shape so they have a handle to hold (foods such as broccoli and cauliflower are great because they have natural 'handles'!). You'll probably want to steam or boil vegetables and harder fruits initially but not so much that they turn to mush in your LO's hands. Roasted vegetables are also yummy. Always put the food in front of your baby and let him pick it up and feed himself rather than put it in his mouth for him - if he's unable to do this then I'd say he's not ready for it but if you offer some fingers foods with each meal he'll soon become very skilled at it. Ripe, soft fruit such as pear, banana, mango, melon and avocado seem ideal to try, but may be too slippery for him to manage until he's a bit older.
Carbohydrates tend to be a big success for first finger foods and you could try breadsticks, rice cakes, oatcakes, toast fingers (and once he's got the hang of this mini sandwiches) etc. Zander loves to eat chunks of cheese and cucumber and raisins are always fun and, like peas, great for developing a pincer grip. You could try dry cereals such as Cheerios for breakfast (though I tend to soak these in milk first) and meals like cheese omelette cut into strips, cheese on toast fingers, pasta, risotto, fish cakes etc. served with veggies or salad vegetables for lunch and dinner.
I hope some of that may help.
