Gino D’Acampo calls parents of fussy eaters ‘morons’ and says there’s ‘no such a thing as a fussy child’

Gino D’Acampo has claimed there are ‘no such thing’ as fussy eaters, instead branding certain parents as ‘morons and idiots’. 

The celebrity chef appeared on the Sweat, Snot and Tears podcast, where he said he thinks children become fussy eaters as a result of parents who can’t be bothered to ‘fight’ over meal times, so instead letting their kids get away with it.

He said: “When people talk to me about fussy children with food and ask me, ‘What do I think?’ I tell them there is no such a thing as a fussy child. There isn’t.

ITV

“But there is a thing of moron parenting. By moron, I mean idiots. A child doesn’t grow up fussy, it’s not possible. It’s the parents.”

And, speaking about the parents who give into their children because ‘they can’t be bothered to fight’, he said the real solution is sending children to bed without any dinner if they don’t eat what’s on their plate.

He revealed that his youngest child Mia, nine, will get sent to bed if she doesn’t eat her dinner and, when she wakes up, she can expect to have last night’s meal for breakfast.

He said this method encourages his children to eat their dinner the first time they’re given it.

Gino also likened his children to training a puppy, saying: “I’m not comparing a dog to a child, for God’s sake, but it’s the same as a 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. Eventually, he’s not going to do the wee on the floor, he’s going to go outside.”

However, parents haven’t reacted too warmly to the chef’s comments, with many slamming him for being too cynical of parenting efforts. One person pointed out: “I have two children one is a fussy eater and one is not…. It was not a choice!”

Another noted: “I’ve been a fussy eater all my life, I was treated like this and it didn’t work. He’s just a big mouth who doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”