Two Red Hook women are so convinced their dog food is the cat’s meow that they’ll dine on the stuff for an entire month.
Evermore Pet Food owners Hanna Mandelbaum, 30, and Alison Wiener, 38, are vowing to eat the chicken- and beef-filled varieties at least once a day to prove that what’s good for the greyhound is good enough for them.
“A lot of pet foods claim to be human grade, but none of those companies put their mouth where there money is,” said Mandelbaum. “Just taking a bite on camera doesn’t cut it.”
The pair plans to document every doggone meal on their website, www.evermorepetfood.com.
Canines and humans have different nutritional requirements, with the former species requiring more protein, she noted.
“We couldn’t eat this non-stop,” Wiener conceded.
The food, which looks like a cross between chili and pâté, is organic, and free of antibiotics and hormones. The chicken and cows are raised on the same ranches where gourmet specialty markets source their meat, the pair said.
Wiener, a chef by training, said when the women aren’t eating dog food, they’ll be eating select ingredients of the food, including kale, yams, blueberries, and dandelion greens.
The food comes frozen, costs between $12 and $14, and is available in over 30 stores citywide. Like revenge, it can be eaten hot or cold.
“It really doesn’t taste that bad,” Wiener said.
The stunt is certainly not new. The president of Kal Kan Pet Food, was said to eat a can of his dog food at shareholders’ meetings — it is not clear if this bolstered or sank investor confidence. And it appears that a generation of dog food eaters are posting their culinary fetish on YouTube. It’s no wonder, a recent study found that high end dog food tastes just like pâté.
Though not everyone has a taste for dog food. Back in 2008, Councilman David Yassky (D-Brooklyn Heights) initially promised to eat a dog biscuit made by an organic pup food company also in Red Hook, but he demurred when he was presented with the savory treat in question.
Still, Mandelbaum and Wiener realize that they could attract an eclectic range of followers, but anyone expecting to see something strange — besides two women eating dog food — is barking up the wrong tree.
“We’re not going to put it in dog bowls,” Mandelbaum said, adding that this dog-food-eating thing isn’t for everyone. “It would benefit from a little hot sauce.”
