Dogs are not known to be savorers of their sustenance, as they often "wolf" down their food, and fail to appreciate the subtle flavors, the textural element, the originality and careful plating that makes for a fine dish.  For most of our history, we were limited to picking up table scraps that fell to the floor; often times only one element of the dish would drop off the table, and we would miss out on the mushroom sauce that went with the steak, or the mustard or catsup that should accompany the hot dog.  We dine, but often we don't dine well.  I'm launching an initiative to increase the appreciation for gourmet food in the canine community.  The Composition of Canine Cuisine will be the first course in my program.  I aim to become the Julia Child of the pooch set, and take Human cooking to the dogs.  A French Poodle "foodie" , I hope to write the definitive tome on the tastes and textures that delight domesticated dogs.

I have accumulated my culinary knowledge by watching my human mom at work in the kitchen, and by studying the superstar chefs at work on Iron Chef, Top Chef, Next Food Network Star, Throwdown With Bobby Flay, and Rachael Ray.  I consider myself a four legged barefoot contessa, and enjoy watching my human counterpart deconstruct a beef bourguignon. I hope she shares some with her dog.  Bobby Flay cooks with a lot of heat, so I have to watch what I eat when his cuisine I meet. I might need to add a little sweet. I like Michael Symon's hearty laugh. With fine food and a little wine there's usually good cheer to be found in a foodie's kitchen.  A person or a dog's' taste for food is very individual and subjective.  Foodies seek out new tastes, and are willing to test their taste buds and loosen their limitations. Foodies are often amateurs with pretensions of grandeur.  Minus the pretensions, we can just be grand.  It's a fine distinction to be sure.

Appreciation for the finer aspects of food preparation doesn't make any dog , or human better than his or her plain hot dog eating brethren.  Rather, it's a passion that some animals have for knowledge about food and culture, and for the complex tastes that can be mixed and matched to delight the palate. Haute cuisine shouldn't mean haughty.  Being a foodie is a club that any animal can join, she just has to have the inclination, the inspiration and work up a little perspiration - and then have great fresh ingredients. We dogs have only one sixth the taste buds of you humans, but we make it up with a much more sensitive sense of smell.  Imagine the torture that your beloved dog undergoes when she watches all of these TV shows with you, smells the heavenly scents in your kitchen, and then gets a bowl of Purina, sans the wine reduction sauce with the splendid aroma you just created. There's a new vanguard of cute culinary canines coming to your kitchen.  Make an extra portion, will you?

Buffy
First Food Network Dog?