The newest craze in charcuterie boards is Barkcuterie! These are dog-friendly charcuterie boards. Learn all about them in this post.
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Give your dog (and Cat) the love they deserve with these beautiful and fun food boards
Now you don’t have to exclude your fur babies from the festive food with over 25 themed snack boards for holidays, special occasions, milestones, and just because. Barkcuterie is a special take on the classic charcuterie board that is for every human’s best friend.
Curated by social media’s favorite corgis, Hammy and Olivia (@hammyandolivia), each artfully designed barkcuterie board is chock-full of delicious homemade and store-bought dog treats. You’ll have fun making the quick and easy boards and even more fun sharing all the goodies with your dog. For cat owners, don’t worry! Hammy and Olivia have included a cat board for their feline friends. So, dress up your pup, get the camera ready, and celebrate:
- National Dog Day
- Halloween
- Christmas
- Valentine’s Day
- Birthdays
- Gotcha Day
- Cinco de Mayo
- and more
I asked Hammy and Olivia’s fur parents a few questions, and here’s what they shared with me:
1. What inspired this Barkcuterie book?
I’ve been told my entire life that dogs should never be fed from the table, and you’d probably imagine that, over time, it becomes easier to deny my pets food whenever they give me that look. It hasn’t.
My willpower is tested each time they cozy up next to me, and I have this constant desire to include my dogs in meals whenever we gather around the table, but, sadly, we can only invite them to breathe the same air as us and watch us enjoy our food that isn’t catered to their digestive systems. This has never made sense to me.
My fondest memories are when my family would gather around the living room, indulging in appetizers, clinking glasses, and laughing so much that we forgot the meal we were cooking is now burning in the oven.
Grabbing a yummy appetizer from the charcuterie board felt familial, and everyone in the room was welcome to reach over and dig in! I wanted to make those same memories with my pets, but it required a shift in the food that was being served.
2. How do you choose what to put on a Barkcuterie board?
When we first decided to make “happy hour” a dog-friendly event in our home, we leaned heavily on Alexa to let us know if dogs could enjoy some of the foods that my fiance, Sarah, and I would have with our wine. “Alexa, can dogs have blueberries? cheese? almonds?” You’d be surprised at the amount of everyday snacks we love that can also be shared with dogs. You will also be surprised at the amount of snacks that you can’t share with dogs.
We’ve asked Alexa so much that we can recite her responses by heart. “Blueberries make a healthy snack for dogs. They are a good source of vitamins and minerals for dogs, and most dogs like them. However, you should always consult your veterinarian before giving your dog something new.”
I always loved that last part because, of course, it’s a liability disclaimer for Amazon, but it’s also very real. You should consult your veterinarian about what you’re giving your dog outside of his typical meal plan. So we decided to consult multiple veterinarians on hundreds of ingredients so that any dog lover won’t have to.
We conducted all of the research to ensure that anything offered to your pet on one of these boards will be easy on a canine digestive system (in moderation, of course). We want each board to contain a balanced approach of crisp/starchy, refreshing/comforting, or fresh/savory. So mixing in the right amount of fruits, vegetables and starches create well-balanced experiences for both dogs and humans.
3. Can you share a little bit about Hammy and Olivia?
Hammy is a super social butterfly that has an endearing passion for the culinary arts. In other words, he’s my shadow in the kitchen! Whenever it’s time to cook, he sports his own apron and hat and enjoys plating food with me (while taking his “nibble tax”).
He’s the first to greet a guest at the door and brings such a vibrant personality into any room he struts into.
His spunky sister, Olivia, can be a very picky eater when she wants to be and very much prefers the finer things in life (silky pillows, gourmet food, etc).
She’s super sassy and adopts the role of a canine Cher Horowitz from “Clueless” around our home. She has her own closet room with over 300 outfits that she sports each day to her social media followers.
The two of them together are like sugar and spice, and the perfect flavor profile for a pair of dogs…and a snack board!
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