Martha Stewart’s homemade dog food, which includes rooster ‘friends,’ sparks debate

Martha Stewart recently posted on Instagram about making her own dog food — and it’s started a dogfight, so to speak, in the comments section.

On Dec. 10, the lifestyle icon, dinner party expert and Dunkin’ fan shared yet another look into her home life to her nearly 2 million followers. In the post, Stewart highlights how she makes food for her two French bulldogs, Creme Brulee and Bete Noire, and two Chow Chows, Emperor Han and Empress Qin.

“Today was dog food day!! Although it takes a lot longer than a day to make our type of healthy farm to bowl food that my lovely dogs have gotten used to,” Stewart wrote in her Instagram post. “Start with the buck deer that’s been living here since he found his way in a year ago, (slowly cook the cubed meat until tender) then harvest the old roosters who have been such good friends and make such tasty poached chicken.”

Stewart then describes the process of the day’s food prep: She started by visiting Mt. Kisco Seafood in Westchester, New York for fresh salmon carcasses, which she and her team poached. Then, they cut up and steamed a freshly grown potiron pumpkin until soft. “We ate a big bowl of that ourselves,” she wrote.

After roasting nine large sweet potatoes, the queen of Thanksgiving boiled carrots in salmon broth along with broccoli, frozen peas and five pounds of quinoa. She finished it all off by combining all the ingredients and coarsely grinding it all up in a food processor.

“I did a mental calculation and determined that we would fill 44 quarts,” Stewart wrote, adding that she was only off by half a quart. She said they then transferred everything to the freezer and cleaned up.

”dogs are very very happy we are very tired !!!!!!!!!!” she wrote. “Worth it !!”

In the past, Stewart has shared how she feeds her dogs on both her Instagram and website, mentioning that adding cooked fish and quinoa to the batch ensures her pups are getting enough protein.

But this time, her post garnered a very divided response, to put it mildly, particularly surrounding the deer and roosters that ended up in the food.

“you killed the deer that found its way to your home? and your ‘friends’ the chickens???? sounds like a real fairty tale over there,” commented one Instagram user.

“Am I reading this correctly? You killed the buck deer that has been calling your place home for the last year and put him in the dog food?” wrote another.

“Note to self, don’t find my way into @marthastewart48 backyard,” joked another.

“I’m not vegetarian but I’m not eating the roosters I call my friends nor the deer living on my property for a year,” commented another Instagram user.

“What a bizarre way to describe these ingredients lol,” another person wrote. “Just curious why you went this route, personifying them as friends?”

But there were those who came to Stewart’s defense, saying that her language shows she is kind to her animals, who “lived much better lives than the chickens in the grocery store did.”

“The irony that people don’t understand this is true sustainability. Go Martha!” commented one person.

“It’s called farm to table, not everyone survives on vegetables. It’s called farming,” wrote another. “We have a lot bigger problems going on this world than people farming and raising their own livestock for food and living sustainably. Secondly, dogs need meat and this is absolutely perfect for them.”

No matter which side of the debate you fall on, we can all agree that Stewart’s dogs are living the good life.

“Martha’s dogs eat better than most people,” one person noted.

“In my next life, I’m coming back as a Martha Stewart house pet,” commented another. “Set. For. Life. 🥰.”

This article was originally published on TODAY.com