The pop-up restaurant for dogs that’s either the dog’s bollocks or a dog’s breakfast
It’s funny how your day can turn out, especially in odd and unexpected ways. I don’t usually write about dogs or dog food (if only because I’m a cat person), but my interest was piqued by a Tweet promoting a pop-up restaurant for dogs called The Curious Canine Kitchen. I almost immediately snorted in disbelief, not because I have anything against dogs, canine health or pop-up restaurants but because of the vague, wishy-washy language on The Curious Canine Kitchen website.
Although it’s careful to avoid making any specific claims, the implication is clear: the menu they serve is more nutritious than standard dog food. ‘It All Starts With Nutrition.’ ‘Inspiring healthier dog diets with nutritious dishes’. ‘High-end, freshly prepared, organic canine cuisine’. It sounded pseudo-scientific to me, so I Tweeted my scepticism in a single word and thought nothing more of it:
Picky Glutton (@pickyglutton)
02/04/2015 19:06
Sigh “@FeedFidoFresh: Booking 11/12 April – UK’s first Holistic Diner For Dogs #Shoreditch curiouscaninekitchen.com pic.twitter.com/SZdu3NGIUj”
What happened next was unexpected. The restaurant’s Twitter presence, @FeedFidoFresh, started a conversation trying to convince me of the benefits of its menu which includes “Textures of Tripe with seaweed and kale puree, crispy Paddywack with reishi mushroom flaxseed cream and coconut and blueberry chia pudding with gluten-free cinnamon quinoa ‘dog biscuits’ “.
I’ve included the full Twitter transcript below, but to summarise @FeedFidoFresh repeatedly evaded my questions about whether they had any scientific, veterinary backing to substantiate their implied nutritional claims. The person tweeting became increasingly agitated as I pressed my questions, even though I remained polite, made plain that I wasn’t accusing them of any ill-intent and tried not to put words in their mouth. Eventually, they promised to send details of their veterinary proof via email. At the time of writing, no such proof has been provided.
CuriousCanineKitchen (@FeedFidoFresh)
03/04/2015 02:47
.@pickyglutton Why does #NUTRITION make you sigh? That’s the point of this event while fundraising for charity. Dogs will thank us for it!Picky Glutton (@pickyglutton)
03/04/2015 11:34
.@FeedFidoFresh what’s the veterinary/nutritional science behind the menu? Or have any vets signed off on it?CuriousCanineKitchen (@FeedFidoFresh)
03/04/2015 11:39
.@pickyglutton Tis based on the work of Juliette de Bairacli Levy, pioneer of herbal medicine +holistic dog care. All information on websiteCuriousCanineKitchen (@FeedFidoFresh)
03/04/2015 11:44
. @pickyglutton Suggest you watch this doc about her work before you judge / if interested in herbs cultureunplugged.com/play/8638Picky Glutton (@pickyglutton)
03/04/2015 11:54
.@FeedFidoFresh so menu hasn’t been signed off by any vets? Not implying any ill intent, merely sceptical about prima facie vague stuffCuriousCanineKitchen (@FeedFidoFresh)
03/04/2015 12:02
@pickyglutton First actually see site before you begin such.. You will see sponsors/Diet Dog for all herbs etc.Picky Glutton (@pickyglutton)
03/04/2015 12:08
.@FeedFidoFresh evading question isn’t assuaging my doubts. If answer is no, why not? To emphasise, not implying any ill intent on your partCuriousCanineKitchen (@FeedFidoFresh)
03/04/2015 12:11
@pickyglutton Excuse me I am certainlyNOT evading question. Every ingredient certified SAFE by vets otherwise would never use! CHECK WEBSITEPicky Glutton (@pickyglutton)
03/04/2015 12:22
.@FeedFidoFresh no need to shout. So menu *has* been signed off by vet? And will they attest to the claimed nutritional benefits?CuriousCanineKitchen (@FeedFidoFresh)
03/04/2015 13:03
@pickyglutton I expect you are going to offer to volunteer as a waiter for this charity event after all this yes? Have you visited site?Picky Glutton (@pickyglutton)
03/04/2015 13:24
.@FeedFidoFresh menu on site doesn’t answer any of my questions. If don’t want to answer, that is of course your right.CuriousCanineKitchen (@FeedFidoFresh)
03/04/2015 13:33
@pickyglutton I have answered yr question Twice now. ALL ingredients are passed. Do you want the surgery to send you an email? You can eat.Picky Glutton (@pickyglutton)
03/04/2015 13:35
.@FeedFidoFresh details by email? Yes please.CuriousCanineKitchen (@FeedFidoFresh)
03/04/2015 13:38
@pickyglutton What is your email then?Picky Glutton (@pickyglutton)
03/04/2015 13:49
@FeedFidoFresh pickyglutton@gmail.com
Given that this Twitter exchange largely happened in public (by preceding each Tweet with a full stop), I felt the need to apologise to any of my Twitter followers that had no interest in pop-up restaurants for dogs. The response from @FeedFidoFresh was baffling in its immaturity and hysterical nonsense.
Picky Glutton (@pickyglutton)
03/04/2015 13:34
Apologies to anyone bored to tears by that exchange. Classic example tho of how not to manage social media & PRCuriousCanineKitchen (@FeedFidoFresh)
03/04/2015 13:37
@pickyglutton Considering this is a charity event. 100% goes to @AmazonCares What you are doing is particularly spiteful. Shame on you.Picky Glutton (@pickyglutton)
03/04/2015 13:48
.@FeedFidoFresh asking reasonable questions politely is a curious & dubious example of spite. And Ad Hominem is a very poor debating tactic
To re-iterate, despite a follow-up tweet, The Curious Canine Kitchen has still not provided any scientific proof to substantiate the nutritional benefits of their menu.
Picky Glutton (@pickyglutton)
09/04/2015 12:08
.@FeedFidoFresh hi! Never received promised report from your vet?
I therefore asked Dan Chan of the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) for his opinion on the matter, passing on the link to the menu. Mr Chan is a Senior Lecturer in Emergency and Critical Care and a Clinical Nutritionist at the RVC. He is also the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care. While Mr. Chan wouldn’t come out either for or against the menu, his reasons were illuminating: ‘It’s impossible to ascertain the nutritional appropriateness from a menu as it requires a detailed analysis of the ingredients, the amounts of each ingredient and the nutrient profile of each ingredient (most of which will be unknown for those ingredients) – so a chemical analysis would be required’ (emphasis added).
‘I therefore asked Dan Chan of the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) for his opinion’
So to re-iterate, the nutrient profiles of most of the ingredients on The Curious Canine Kitchen’s menu are unknown to a qualified and experienced veterinary researcher. While this of course doesn’t categorically disprove The Curious Canine Kitchen’s claims, it does reinforce my initial scepticism. What do they know that a veterinary professional does not? It also gives me further reason to doubt @FeedFidoFresh’s belated assertion of having veterinary proof/backing for their claims of nutritional benefit. If it exists, why has it still not been publicly released? Or at least circulated among the veterinary community, either in a peer-reviewed journal or otherwise?
‘the nutrient profiles of most of the ingredients on The Curious Canine Kitchen’s menu are unknown to a highly qualified veterinary researcher’
My suspicion is that such proof does not exist and the belated assertion that it did exist was a feeble attempt to fob off further inquiry. Judging from their public statements so far, I don’t think the people behind The Curious Canine Kitchen are acting maliciously in continuing to publicise their unsubstantiated claims of nutritional benefit. They may well honestly believe their nutritional claims, but they probably don’t actually know them to be true – at least not to any rigorous standard.
‘My suspicion is that such proof does not exist’
Predictably, all of the sittings at the Curious Canine Kitchen are apparently sold out. While all those dog owners may well have a good time with their money apparently going to a charity (which is registered with the US IRS but oddly not with the Charities Commission in the UK), they are by no means assured of extra nutrition for their dogs compared to standard dog food.
-The Picky Glutton
Editorial notes: I decided not to press The Curious Canine Kitchen on their assertion that their menu is based on the work of Juliette de Bairacli Levy. Ms Levy died in 2009 and therefore almost certainly had no direct input into their menu. This is also why I decided not to further investigate the validity of Ms Levy’s work as a whole – my interest here is whether The Curious Canine Kitchen’s claims about their menu can be substantiated or not.
Aside from adding bold to make the Twitter transcripts easier to read, they have not been edited in any way.
Technical aside: the technologically astute among you will be wondering why the Twitter transcriptions are just plain text, lacking the usual avatars etc. It turns out that Twitter only lets you easily embed individual Tweets, not whole conversations, and even then you have to copy and paste the HTML code for each individual Tweet which is long-winded tedium I can do without. I tried using Storify, but that was no more effective given its surprisingly poor integration with Twitter. In the end, I opted to use Tweetbot. Using this splendid iOS Twitter app, I quickly and simply emailed the entire conversation transcripts to myself albeit only in plain text. I may eventually embed the Twitter HTML blocks for a more aesthetically pleasing article. But I probably won’t.
