Feldman, who has two golden retrievers and a collie, was all in.
Four years later, The Culinary Canine: Great Chefs Cook for Their Dogs - And So Can You! (BowTie Press) will reach bookshelves. Following the Sept. 28 launch will be an appearance on Martha Stewart's show and an Oct. 20 party at Square 1682 restaurant at Hotel Palomar in Center City, whose chef, Guillermo Tellez, contributed a recipe.
So did more than two dozen other chefs, including Levin, Georges Perrier of Le Bec-Fin in Center City (who has a bichon frise named Isabelle), and Christine Gyaw of Rangoon in Chinatown, who feeds her dogs ginger because it soothes the belly.
The Oct. 20 party, from 6 to 8 p.m., will be a benefit for PACT (People/Animals=Companions Together).
"There's the five people I care about most in the world and my dogs," said Levin. The fact that toxic melamine had been added to some feed in China, killing pets here, had gotten him nervous. Levin asked a friend, a veterinarian at the University of Pennsylvania, for food ideas. "He told me to use bone meal," Levin said. Now, he makes big batches and freezes dishes with such ingredients as quinoa, ground lamb, rice, peas, and apples for his two Weimaraners - Sadie and Clyde - and his Boston terrier, Señor Howie Tartufo.
The book's recipes sound like people food. Nicholas Shipp from the Upper West in Los Angeles, site of the book's Los Angeles launch party Nov. 13, contributed Yorkie Lamb Stew with Mint Cilantro Crunch. Eileen Watkin from the Inn at Penn in University City offers Brown Rice Arancini with Sweet Potato and Ground Chicken; Dana Tommasino from Woodward's Garden in San Francisco has contributed Goat Shanks With Fennel, Coriander, and Honey.
