Serena Williams recently posted a wholesome Instagram video where she is seen teaching her daughter, Alexis, how to cook her comforting gumbo recipe.
But it seems that her fans could only focus on one thing, via thousands of comments.
In the middle of cooking, tennis sensation Williams is seen feeding her two dogs pieces of sausage while prepping it for the gumbo. This innocent moment has caused quite a stir.
“She was good til she fed the dog, then it’s a nope,” one comment reads, with another replying, “We don’t touch our food after touching the dog unless hands are washed.”
However, some side with Williams, questioning “who doesn’t give their dog a snack while cooking?”
“As soon as I crack an egg, open a package of deli cheese or start preparing chicken, my dog, Chloe, appears at my heels in the kitchen,” senior editor Megan Ginsberg shares. “She knows if she hangs around and waits patiently, she’ll get a bite. I love having her company in the kitchen and don’t see anything wrong with giving her a couple little scraps, but that’s where I draw the line; she doesn’t get fed in the dining room or get food from our plates.”
“My dog Pepper loves to sit near the kitchen and watch her dad cook,” our associate social media editor Allison Little says. “She knows that begging won’t get her her way, but she’s got one of those faces that you just can’t resist! She’s a pro at fetch, so tossing some raw veggies in her direction is a fun distraction, but she knows very well that she’ll never get a bite of the finished product from our plates, so she doesn’t even bother.”
Many of Williams’ fans were most concerned about the star’s hand being in contact with her dogs’ mouths while she’s prepping her food without washing her hands afterwards. But she is seen dropping or throwing the food to her pups with minimal to no contact, which is exactly what our editors abide by.
“Levi Browndog is my adorable little sous chef, and crunchy veggies like carrots and cucumber are some of his favorite foods,” news, trending and updates editor Abigail Abesamis Demarest says. “He’ll sit patiently while I peel and chop away. When I’m finished, I’ll toss some end pieces to him, and he catches them in his mouth. My hands stay nice and clean and he does a trick and gets a snack! Win win.”
Is Feeding Your Dogs Scraps While You Cook Safe?
We even asked a chef and expert for their opinion on the matter. Shawn Matijevich, lead chef-instructor of Online Culinary Arts & Food Operations at the Institute of Culinary Education weighs in with his thoughts with an overall message of “leave Serena alone!”
“Here is something that people don’t really get about food safety,” he explains. “In food safety, we worry about three different types of contamination: physical (dog drool, dog hair, band-aids), chemical (household cleaners, poisons) and biological (bacteria, virus, parasite). Two of the three could apply here. I think the physical things that could be coming off the dogs and onto her hands could be considered physical contamination if you stretch it that far—it’s very minimal though. If dog drool really gives you the ick, then fine, I get it. But most dog owners I know let their dogs kiss them on the face.”
Whether it’s “gross” or not is one thing, but is feeding your dog in the kitchen a safe choice? Here’s what Matijevich says.
“Biological contaminants, bacteria, viruses and parasites are all present in our household pets in their saliva, skin and bodily fluids,” he shares. “Here in this video, however, Serena is boiling everything that could have possibly come into contact with the dogs. Boiling kills all three of the biological contaminants I talked about, rendering this gumbo worry-free as far as food safety goes.”
When feeding your dogs “human” food, just be sure to give them scraps of things that won’t upset their tummies.
“I definitely give my dogs, Oreo and Banjo, scraps while I cook,” Carolyn Malcoun, our associate editorial director says. “Maybe they get the fatty pieces of meat after it’s been cooked, or a mushy blueberry—Banjo’s favorite.”
The Bottom Line
Serena Williams feeds her dogs scraps in the kitchen, and that is OK. In fact, our editors do it too, and a food safety expert is on our side. Just be sure to wash your hands after coming in contact with your pooch.
“If you are just grossed out by it, I can see that point of view, but there is no real danger here to food safety,” Matijevich concludes.
