Gino D'Acampo says parents are to blame if their children are fussy eaters.
The 45-year-old Italian celebrity chef insists no child should be a picky eater, and if they are it is because their mother and father have not been strict enough at the dining table.
Speaking on the ‘Sweat, Snot and Tears’ podcast, he said: “When people talk to me about having fussy children … there is no such thing as a fussy child. There is such a thing as moron parenting. Idiots, morons.
“A child doesn’t grow up fussy. It’s the parents who can’t be bothered to fight. They can’t be bothered to see their children go to bed without having any food – I can.”
Gino shares three children, Luciano 19, Rocco, 16, and Mia, nine, with his wife Jessica Stellina Morrison and he has no issue sending his youngest daughter to bed hungry if she won't eat the same meal as the rest of her family, and that same dish will be waiting for her when she gets up in the morning.
He said: “If Mia was at the table not eating anything … we finish off eating, she would go to bed without food.
“And guess what? Tomorrow, instead of milk and cornflakes, what is she going to find on the table?
“Ask my wife – the same ravioli that they wouldn’t east last night. Of course they will eat it, because what they don’t want is to have the same ravioli at dinner time when they come back.”
The 'This Morning' regular compared his method of parenting to that of raising a puppy, but he is adamant it is effective.
He said: "It’s the same thing when you have a little puppy you only have to tell him off and pretend to smack him a couple of times not to do the wee on the floor, and then eventually he’s not going to do a wee on the floor it’s the same thing.”
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