Recreating Dog Food from the Last 2,000 Years 

the fact that the dog loved it immediately makes all this so much better and interesting

That hardtack clip never gets old.

There are some ancient Chinese poems (I think Tang dynasty?) where a guy talks about getting a cat to hunt rats, but then he started feeding it fish and how it doesnt hunt any more, and he should be mad about that but the kitty is just too cute to be mad at.

Max, you have perfect timing. I just lost my dog (15) early this morning. His mom (16) passed away on Wednesday. They have been apart of my life longer than not and my family is mourning. Thank you for sharing this part of history with us. I don't know how, but it made me feel just a bit better.

The Roman epitaph always makes me tear up. FIFTEEN YEARS! That's a great life for a dog TODAY, with modern veterinary medicine, vaccinations, and diet! For a dog to live that long 2000 years ago shows just how well they was cared for by their human. ❤

Luna: Mother I like this food man, please bring him over more often

I don't know how the thought "What did ancient people feed their pets" never occurred to me.

When I was a kid in the 70s the farm dogs were fed with meat trim, table scraps and oatmeal cooked in meat drippings. When there were more eggs than we could use they would be added to the dog slop, but they were usually kept for the cats. The cats mostly fended for themselves because that’s what they were there for, but were given an egg every day.

The look of absolute love and adoration on Luna's face at <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="1203">20:03</a>. Max, you have just become her absolute bestest friend 😂🤣

Now you need to find a 19th century cat food recipe and show off your cats! Christmas season 2023 we had to put down our elderly 20 year old Kashmir (American shorthair) that we rescued at 3 years old. At her initial vet visit, we were told that she was at a perfect weight of 7 lbs. If we didn’t let her get overweight, she would be around for a long while. We had her for 17 on Costco dry cat food. We now have two kittens (one is 10 months and the other 7 months) and we will be careful to keep them at a healthy weight. Thank you, Max, for ALWAYS engaging content!

Fun fact; in art from the Dutch Golden Age, you can tell how the couple/person painted's love life was based on how the dog was painted. If the dog was well behaved in the painting, then the love life was in order. If the dog is running wild... well somebody is cheating or otherwise that love life is in chaos.

The dog graves and epitaphs moved me to tears when I looked them up after my dog of 11 years died. They are so human.

I can practically see Maureen just off-camera stifling laughs as Luna obliterates her snacks. 🤣

I grew up in China in the 1990s. We had a Bernese mountain dog and at that time we couldn't easily find dog food. We ended up giving her rice cooked with chicken and vegetables, just tossed it all raw and cubed cooked till soft. We would buy cow femurs for her to chew on. She was very healthy and happy and got good scores at the vet. Even now my service dog who is a 6lb toy poodle, gets home made wet food sometimes (carrots and broccoli and chicken Brest with oat flower and fish oil ground to a paste). She and my cat are Working animals (cats there to catch mice and dog is a service dog) so we try to provide the best for them. The pet rats even have there own job and do a great job of taking care of our vegetable cuttings.

Max, special thanks for this one. I consider all my "pets" working animals: the cats alert me to unwanted crawlies in the house and deter rodents, as does the Rat Terrier who also serves as the best watch dog. They all keep the bed warm, are expeditious Hoovers when I accidentally drop a bit in the kitchen, and are cheaper than employing a full-time fool as entertainment. 🐾

My dad was a resentful diabetic. My baby brother had a dog. We got the dog a package of dog biscuits shaped like various popular cookies and cookie brands. We caught our dad trying to eat one of the cookies

Can confirm that dogs go absolutely buckwild CRAZY over hardtack. Few years ago I made a bunch of the stuff out of sheer boredom and a dog I had was absolutely insanely obsessed with them. She probably liked them more than her regular biscuits. The loud munching and crunching sounds she made while eating them were hilarious.

When you mentioned having cats but not dogs, I was worried this would just be you eating the dog food. So glad that Luna was available to do the tasting and a good dog got a nice treat.

Max, I just started feeding my Penny fresh food a month ago and I was surprised when I saw the proportions you mentioned of 35% protein and 2 cups of grain + 2 cups of vegetables and they matched what I have been feeding her and she hasn't been happier ever! We always aim to have our pets happy and healthy because they make us happy and ... well, HAPPY (we're responsible for our food choices, so we might be happy, sad, sick or guilty :)). Thank you for this refreshing take on tasting pet history - you make my Tuesday evenings something to look forward to! .

A roman dog grave was found in Cologne, Germany. It's now in the Römisch-Germanisches Museum, but that's currently under renovation.

An avid hunter i used to know would take the parts from his hunts he didn't eat (entrails, liver, heart, ears, some fat, etc) and throw it in a huge pot along with unflavored oatmeal, some mix of vegetable trimmings he saved from cooking (minus onions, garlic, the veggies they cant eat) and water. He'd boil it for ages and ages until it was basicly a pink mush before throwing in some ice to cool it down and dumping the whole pot in a feed trough. Those dogs came from every direction as fast as they could to get there. Hed let them eat their fill, then bucket out and freeze whats left and portion it out until he went hunting again. He would say, "If i get to feast, so do they. A reward for their work." His dogs were always happy and healthy for the most part.

Awww, Luna is such a good assistant. And now uncle Max is gonna need to make more Luna biscuits.

The late Queen’s corgis were fed on lamb, shredded & cooked cabbage and rice made fresh daily by the royal chefs.

I come from a long line of bird hunters. We’ve always had bird dogs (German Shorthair Pointers). They tracked and pointed to the ducks/pheasants/geese so we could eventually harvest them to eat ourselves and families in the community. My dad cared for them so diligently with vet care and feeding them the best foods. After cleaning the birds up, the dogs got the “scraps” like the liver, heart, etc. They worked so hard… they deserved every bit of it. They would get so excited to hunt because they knew they’d get their favorite treats! I often think of our best dog, Buster, who has since passed away and I’m so grateful for him. He was a great dog on & off the hunt. We loved him so much.

A few days ago a bunch of kids dropped off a kitten that they found behind our house, that they thought was ours. It had been abandoned, and my family love cats, so we adopted it. She was killed this afternoon by one of our older cats in a moment of inattention from us. That little kitten had been sleeping on my chest and following me around since day one. Even though I only had her for a few days, I fell in love with her. This episode is so heartbreaking to watch in her absence.

In most history shows I've seen and I do watch a lot, you rarely see what pet actually eat, and when they talk about it its barely mentioned. I love your shows.

My cat is really the reason I get out of bed, She screams and screams until I get up and go and give her some treats. My dog just sleep until someone gets up. My cat is spoiled, my dog is also spoiled only when you are awake and will cry and cry until you give him the correct number of milk bones.

Those dog epitaphs got me. We just lost our first dog last month. We still miss her terribly 😢

Feeding dogs table scraps can be dangerous, as there’s loads of common stuff that’s toxic to dogs like garlic and onions.

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="41">0:41</a> my guy made sure he was well remembered

My grandmother feed her dogs on boiled kangaroo tail and the leftover trimmings from vegetables. Any other kitchen scraps went in the pot too. Sometimes one of the dogs would steal eggs, he was cheeky. My aunt included her dogs in tea every day, and they got their own saucer of milk with some tea in it, and a biscuit. They were a bit fat though.

My 9 month old german shepherd puppy ate my new Tasting History Cookbook! I ordered another one only spiral bound this time!

OH COME ON YOU CANT HIT ME WITH THE DOG GRAVE EPITATH ON A TUESDAY AFTERNOON I WAS DOING GOOD

I so enjoyed this video. We just got a puppy a few months ago and we’re embarking on the adventure of making his food so this was super interesting to me. He’s loved the home made food and enjoys so many more veggies and fruits than I expected. I’d love to see historic recipes for your cats, if such a thing exists!

Crazy this comes out on the day we have decided to put down my dog who is suffering from cancer. Those dog epitaphs made me emotional. Nothing connects us more than the love we have for our best friends

The epitaph. 😭😭😭 It doesn't surprise me that our pets used to eat more "real food" rather than processed food because the human diet has evolved that way too. Luna is the cutest guest taste-tester! 🥰

Max the scene with Luna was ADORABLE! I'm sure it's a lot of extra effort to travel to film, even if it's nearby, but I would love to see more scenes from outside your kitchen, especially those featuring animals or the great outdoors! (Or the great backyard -- with cats!) It's so refreshing to see you in new locations, I always love your travel videos!

There was an ancient book about the history of dogs at the Purdue University Veterinary School library back when I was in school in the 1980's. It had a rather detailed set of chapters about the dogs of the British Islands and how many of the "breeds" of dogs in England and Scotland came as descendants of the Roman dogs that were used to drive the livestock needed to feed the Roman Armies for the invasions of Gaul, which included France and England (We are talking 80-140AD timeframe). It was very detailed about how these working dogs that ended up in England were the "best" dogs because as the livestock was eaten by the Roman army, not as many dogs were needed to drive the stock forward so the less talented dogs were often "eaten" or given to locals by the stock boys to hide them. That book described how the farmers in England and Gaul were so happy to have these highly skilled livestock dogs they bred them into some of the local dogs to make them more "weather" worthy as many of the Roman dogs were shorthaired due to the more mediterranean climate. It described how farmers dog were well fed with mutton, stone cut oats, and milk as well as eggs and horse meat. It also talked about how Lurchers were invented to allow serfs to get away with hunting in the kings forrest, because herding dogs were the only dogs spared "hamstranging" to prevent hunting, as herding dogs needed speed to herd the livestock and pay the taxes and rent for the farms. It was a fabulous book and I wish I could remember the title and author.

"I am in tears while carrying you to your last resting place, as much as I rejoiced when bringing you home in my own hands fifteen years ago" ok yeah thanks now I'm sobbing

LOVE. IT. Love my pets too. Glad to know I'm not the first or only person to make my own pet foods. When I started doing it, it was the cheapest way to feed them. Now I think it's better than the commercial foods that are available, and just a healthier alternative. Thank you Max. Thank you for expanding your borders on food and opening our minds to the extended families that most of us have in our homes.

I half expected Max to try persuading his cats to try the biscuits.

I have 3 dogs and a new kitten. Food is definitely a big deal in this house because the 2 biggest doggos have sensitive stomachs and cant hold down regular old dog food so i have to feed them all meat and veggies with only a bit of dried dog food every so often, and so now I will be making this for them and see if they like it. Thanks Max for keeping ALL our family members in mind! 😆

So cool that some of Luna's ancestors may have wolfed down the exact same thing 2000 years ago. It is clearly still a winning formula.

It should be noted that most dogs are lactose intolerant. Though since it laries, some dogs may be fine with milk, while others may get serious stomach cramps.

I found this episode an adorable and refreshing divergence from the normal research lines, and love the guest stars/ 4 legged co hosts in this episode. Please keep up the exellent work.

I'm just saying... if your dog shares the bed, do NOT under any circumstances, feed it cabbage. 🤢

I love how Max always just lists the most random foods that nobody has ever heard of with such a confidence and authority. As if we all are saying "oh good I have some scottish oatmeal left over still. Good thing I don't have to go shopping" 🤣🤣🤣

This is so cool, never thought this channel would do pet food and history of that. Love it!

"...there is wailing about them, as though they were ill." I can totally relate as my pup has us trained to his every desire! 😂

My cat, Princess Freya Busybody loves hunting. Even thou she’s terribly over fed. Her favorite things to hunt as of late are grasshoppers, crickets, palmetto bugs (yuck!), and most lately, locusts. She has brought home baby snakes! 🐍😱

Hi Max, you probably won't see this but this video came through to my phone the exact moment that I submitted my Masters by Research Thesis. It may seem silly but it felt like it was meant to be, because all of your videos have kept me company every hour I've been doing experiments in the lab for the past year when I needed something entertaining and fun to listen to. Not to sound sappy but your videos are brilliant and this video popping up when I finally sent it off felt like a sort of pat on the back for all the times your own research has accompanied my own. Thankyou

Nothing quite like a happy doggo, and Luna definitely looked happy with what she was fed.

Love this video. As a person who grew up in the pet industry (my parents has owned a pet store since 1975) I love to learn the history of pets and pet ownership.

So Adorable! Loved how Luna just gobbled every bit!

My husband got me your book for my birthday yesterday. I was reading it today & our puppy kept lying on the page in my lap & them you do a pet food episode ! Awesome & unexpected food history lesson for our 4 legged friends !🐶🐱 Keep up the great work Max !

Skitty , Furfrou and pidgeotto spotted!!! 😊

We made cat food for our cats when I was young. Dad had a fishing boat, and all the scraps and small fish were boiled in the huge pot. Mom used to get wheat bread from the day-old bread store to add. It was fish mush, and the cats loved it.

What a cute idea for an episode! Always enjoy, but this one definitely hits home as my needy dog barks in my ear because I stopped petting her to watch this video. 😄

I have never commented on this site before but have watched many of his videos. I very much enjoyed this one. One thing I would like to add is that this is so well produced with so many old drawings from hundreds of years ago. It must take a team to pull this off. Very well done. Kudos to you Max

This channel is such a gold mine. The hardtack clip that never gets old, the old man voiceovers... and now pet food videos?? Amazing.

A Tasting History video to watch while I write and enjoy my coffee, what a wonderful way to spend my morning! Thank you kindly Mr. Miller!!

I love when Max does an over the top voice for a historical person 😂 gets me every time

Luna looked like she really enjoyed her specially prepared dog foods😊❤

Pet Food, Horse Meat, Flashback...... Mid 1960s. A local meat packing company sold a frozen pound of ground meat in a waxed paper carton called "Hound's Choice". If you deciphered the rather small print rendered blurry by the wax applied to the paper of the carton you could find, "100% Ground Horsemeat. Not for human consumption." (State law forbade selling horsemeat for human consumption.) As lunch time was coming up and Mamaw S--- would be a good while at the beauty parlor; I decided to make something I had learned to make at a Boy Scout camping trip; Chili. I rooted around in Mamaw's refrigerator and pantry and found what I needed in the way of spices and ingredients. I'd never seen hamburger packed in a carton before. I made the chili and a pot of rice to put the chili on. (it is a regional thing to put any stew or stew like edible on rice.) Mamaw complimented my eight year old self for success at lunch. But, was puzzled where the caron of dog food went. Her little fur baby would ONLY eat "Hound's Choice". I had to walk down to the grocery so Ragmop could have some Hound's Choice for luncheon, I never mentioned this to anyone until your video resurfaced the memory.

Barley bread and milk? Yes, please! Meat fibrine cakes? Yes, please! Mister, give me MOAR, please?

As a person whose life is managed by 4 retired racing greyhounds, I love how often greyhounds showed up in this video!

One of the reasons I decided to get Italian Greyhounds is because they were lapdogs in ancient Rome. (And after owning three pairs of them over the years, I believe that they are the best dog breed ever.) It is thought that the "Beware of the Dog" mosaics mean "don't step on the dog".

The Greek philosopher Xenophon the Younger, 430-350BCE, wrote in his treatise Cynegeticus (On Hunting), about feeding his greyhound Horme scraps from the table. Also about how he'd take his dog to the gym with him, how he'd stay with a friend when he had government business, and about how he was a rescue who had been whipped by his previous owner, and if anyone even mentioned whips, would become very afraid, jump up putting his paws on the speaker's shoulders, and "apply his mouth to theirs as to kiss him" until he was appeased. That bit was TMI.

Cutest little dog, was great how happy she was to eat that food.

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="1011">16:51</a> Max, you had way too much fun with that accent! 😂

The biscuits reminded me of that one time we got fancy peanut butter dog biscuits for our dog, which I am shamelessly admitting having eaten several times just for the fact that they did taste great by themselves, just like any chewy peanut butter biscuits made for humans. Curiosity paid off, but my parents weren't so happy about it when I told them how good they tasted lol

Oh wow, this is a creative topic. I hadn't even considered Pet Food

I saw a documentary on a small tribe of primate natives in Papua New Guinea about 15 years ago. They made fish traps out of branches, and lived very poorly. Every single one of them had at least one pet: cats, tiny dogs, birds, and even a little monkey. They shared everything with them, and this made me believe that humanity had ALWAYS kept pets.

I felt that human connection too when I got to see old petroglyphs on the various stone surfaces in Utah. It was so touching to know that...another person drew these images long ago. A human hand touched this same stone and expressed themselves. What those images mean didn't really matter. Just that connection that another someone was there and left something that I get to see. It's very cool.

I visited Pompeii a few months ago and in the entryway to one of the houses there you can see a mosaic of a large black dog with a leash and a collar. Underneath the dog the tiles spell out the phrase 'cave canem' which translates to 'beware of the dog'. I don't know why I had never thought much about the idea of pets in Ancient Rome before that but it struck me seeing something from thousands of years ago that's practically identical to the 'beware of dog' signs you see people put on their houses today

Luna is my favorite part of this video! I love Doxies! I miss mine.

We make our Chihuahua Sweetie's food from scratch- her favorite combo is beef, quinoa (because she CAN and WILL eat around rice), red bell peppers, rainbow carrots and spinach, along with a vitamin powder! If your dog's a super picky eater, making your own food can be super easy and gives your dog something to look forward to!

I used to make liver cake for my dog. He & any other lucky pooch around would do anything for it. One of his other favourites was the skin of oily fish, that I'd tie into bows & dry/crisp in a low oven. Both were a lot better smelling than the tripe I sometimes boiled up for him. He had a partial BARF (Bones And Raw Flesh) diet which kept him in top condition.

I changed my dogs regular dog food, with rice oats, veggies and mostly chicken offal, legs and neck. and the arthritis he has had a massive improvement. no longer aches. Regular dog food is just a terrible thing. and he is so much happier and loves his food now.

The reason I subscribed to this channel way back at the first video is because I've always asked questions about what people in history ate, ever since I was a little kid. I've been curious since that time what EXACTLY people's pets ate to keep them healthy when human food was harder to come by and specialised pet foods weren't around. Thank you for answering part of that question for me!

great... max is eating dog food XD

My cat was also really well fed. Didn't stop her from presenting me with the corpse of a mouse in just the most conspicuous and nauseating way one morning (note: she was an indoor cat).

When I eat canned sardines I drizzle the juice(not oil, I get mine in water) over their bowls as a treat. I also like giving them dried treats like dried fish skin. If I am running low, a fingerfull of unsalted peanut butter is good.

I love how Luna is clearly ready for her moment. Of course all the things friend brought are for her! ❤

When I was growing up, my grandmother lived across the road from our house. Our beagles learned real quick to wait by her back door steps, because she would give them the leftovers from breakfast, whether it was biscuits and gravy, ham and eggs or bacon and grits, those hounds ate better than some people!

My dogs eat my dog food and love it. My vet says they are in very good shape. My food is a meat loaf with different meats, veggies and minerals. They love it.

The "dog cake" looks like hard tack by the pic *clack clack* <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="136">2:16</a> Thank you Max for not letting me down!! There will a good number of us that you made very happy...

My dogs love veggies. Mostly peas, carrots, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin. They like corn, but my Bully has a grain allergy. Corn can set it off.

That Hardtack smile and clack together makes me giggle every time I see it! Thank you for making history so fun!!

Luna has her own personal chef now.

I wonder if - "Jack Sprat could eat no fat, His wife could eat no lean. And so between them both, you see, They licked the platter clean." Jack's dog would eat only tack, And licked his bowl quite clean. 🐶🍪😆(Sorry couldn't resist changing the old nursery rhyme.)

Luna's adorable. To be fair, dogs aren't the most discerning gourmands. If you make cat food, we'll know if it actually appeals to them.

Just starting the video and waiting for the "hardtack **clack clack** " clip, given the dog biscuit in the video. To be edited thus. Edit: <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="372">6:12</a> and there it is. :D

Thank you, Luna, for being our guinea pig today! So glad it worked out well for you!

I used to take Milkbones with me to school as a snack between classes, when my stomach started snarling before lunch. The peanut butter, beef, or vegetable ones were the ones I liked. The pigeons loved the liver and chicken ones. And since those birds knew I had biscuits, they’d follow me across the quad, demanding their treats. …I was a weird kid

The longest living dog in the world was eating homemade food that his humans would eat too. A lot of people are afraid to feed animals, human food, and especially dogs, but dogs pretty much where breed to eat similar to humans. They're only a few exceptions of what they can't eat, but it's like dealing with somebody with allergies or intolerance. People shouldn't be afraid to feed them fresh and homemade meals. It's better for their health. My dog still gets kibble but it has to be doctored for her taste buds because she's used to us giving her human food. Because once you get them on human food, they don't really want to eat things like kibble as much.

I saw that red biscuit and heard the hard tack clickety clack.

By this point hardtack clip is more efficient than Sailor Moon transformation sequence, love it.

“…ship’s biscuits…” *clack clack* NEVER GETS OLD😂

"They're feeding the dawgs, they're feeding the cats, they're feeding the pets, of the people who live there!!!"