There are already hundreds of cookbooks for humans, but cookbooks for dogs are also on the rise. Dogs are often, just like their owners, real gourmets. In her new book, Maureen du Toit, a foodie at heart, shares recipes for responsible snacks for your four-legged friend.
Presenting, writing, acting and teaching yoga: Maureen du Toit is at home in all markets. Now she has also written a book, containing responsible snacks for your dog: The Happy Dog Cookbook. †My publisher wanted me to write a cookbook. But there are already so many people cookbooks and I didn’t really have anything innovative,” Du Toit tells NH Nieuws.
“Our dog Bella loved pancakes and stole a stack once,” she says. From that moment on it became a tradition to bake a pancake separately for her dog. †On Pinterest I discovered a pet bakery in Australia and then I decided to write a dog cookbook with cupcakes, brownies and pancakes. Specially tailored for dogs.”
Pupcakes and jelly donuts
In the book you will find recipes from apple-turmeric pretzels to apple and banana pupcakes, and from sweet potato pancakes to peanut butter-and-jelly donuts. All baked goods and snacks that are easy to make.
To test the recipes, of course, guinea pigs were needed. Maureen herself chose to let her parents’ dog try out her recipes. †My dog Bella had since passed away, so I’ve largely tailored my recipes to Luca. But other dogs from my immediate environment were also guinea pigs.”
All recipes in the book are lower in fat and without sugar. “Then you get a stiffer structure in the end result.” The recipes in the book are mainly intended as a snack.
nice comments
So far Maureen has received nice reactions to the book. “They are surprised. Dog owners think it’s funny, but I think there will be people who will criticize.” And she totally understands that. “A dog like that doesn’t really care what he gets to eat, the book is more fun for the owners.”
Several well-known Dutch people and their dogs also contributed to the recipe book, including Gallyon van Vessem, Koos van Plateringen, Ellie Lust, Viktor Brand, Loretta Schrijver, Evelien de Bruijn, Babette van Veen and Maurice Wijnen.