It is not an issue of choking as much as an issue of pain. I went to a liquid diet for a while after radiation (no peg). The first thing semi-solid I went to after that was pudding. I started that about 2 weeks after treatment and that was always about how much pain I could tolerate and what I felt I could keep down as the no taste issue made me want to gag on all food at that point.

For me, eating got better fairly fast after that and I was back to solid foods in no time.