With my DD, we found that it helped to have her sit at a child-sized table and chair, from about 13 months of age. Also, it turned out that she really really wanted to feed herself - it was very messy but she was more willing to try things if she got to feed herself (with fingers mostly, but often times with cutlery/ spoon).

Having a child size table and chair also helped my son with his meals when he was 20 months old. He was rebelling during mealtimes when I strapped him in the booster seat - screaming, crying and refusing to eat/drink. I would just placed his food and drink on his table and let him do his things. He was really happy to be able to sit in his little chair or stand at his little table to eat. The only thing is that he would take almost an hour to eat his meal because he would be eating one minute and running around for another 2 min. But eventually he would finish his food. It's not my ideal scenario of mealtime but it worked for him. Eventually he was tall enough to sit at the big table with us and he eats with us with few problems now.