Re the gagging/choking thing, it's just my opinion, but I think because my DD wasn't fed smooth pureed food she 'learnt' to handle lumps and bits much better. The only time she has ever seemed to choke (and I give her everything from apple, to meat, to grapes, etc, and always have) was on a piece of mandarin when she was about 18 mths old. She choked on it quite forcefully, pulled it out of her mouth, looked at the offending piece and stuffed it back in! She's never choked on mandarin since, but she pulls off the stringy bits herself and tells me 'bin'.

Believe me, I found babies could 'chew' quite efficiently, even before teeth!