Love Me, Feed Me

From the esteemed food editor and author Judith Jones, a charming, practical guide to sharing the pleasures of home cooking with your dog. Doesn’t man’s best friend deserve a little more than cardboard-dry kibble day in and day out? Judith Jones thinks so, and in this delightful new cookbook she offers up more than fifty home-cooked recipes, both time efficient and finance friendly—among them Salmon Cakes, Wild Mushroom Risotto, and Shepherd’s Pie—that she’s loved and shared with her own canines. Jones explains the nutritional benefits of substituting, or supplementing, store-bought food with a diet of fresh, home-prepared ingredients. She offers helpful extras like advice on portion size, what to do with scraps, and the latest research on controversial ingredients such as garlic (newly vindicated), ginger (use sparingly), and eggplant (an acquired taste, but scrape out the seeds). Though many of the recipes are simple to prepare, using basic techniques and ingredients home cooks are likely to have on hand, Jones never compromises flavor or variety; when a full recipe—her mouth-watering Moussaka, for instance—is too complex for a dog’s palate or digestive health, Jones gives detailed instructions on how to modify your pet’s share. Jones balances her recipes, tips, and techniques with endearing accounts of life with her own dogs, including her very first, a Scottish terrier; a poodle who charmed a French chef into serving up a haute-cuisine feast gratis; and her current Havanese pup, Mabon, who occasionally contributes his own two cents within these pages. She also includes the thoughts of some of her canine- and food-loving friends, Jacques Pépin and M. F. K. Fisher among them. With Love Me, Feed Me to guide you, planning what to put in your dog’s bowl becomes a natural part of deciding what to put on your own table, and your dog will savor mealtimes all the more because of it. Filled with the practical wisdom and verve of a master home cook and lifetime dog lover, Love Me, Feed Me can only lead to a happier, healthier dog.