The Best Dog Kibble Out There: Orijen and Acana

Being a dog freak, people frequently ask "what's the best food to feed my dog?" My response is usually prefaced by "every dog is different, so what's good for one dog may not be good for another." I usually say that to cover all my bases. The problem is there's a lot of misinformation out there about pretty much everything under the sun, dog food included. For example, the BEST diet for your dog actually consists of raw meat, fruits, and veggies. Is that surprising? Shouldn't be. A natural diet is the best diet for dogs, cats, humans, buffalo, antelope, gremlins, etc.

But I'm not here to preach a raw diet; instead I'm writing this to preach about what I think is the best KIBBLE on the market since that's what people predominantly feed their dogs.

The answer: ORIJEN and ACANA.

Click here to check out Acana's website.

Click here to check out Orijen's website.

Orijen and Acana are actually sister companies owned by Champion Petfoods out of Canada. Simply describing the benefits about the superiority of these foods isn't enough. No, these things need a damn list:

1) As close to a natural diet as you're going to get from any kibble 

Both of these brands pride themselves on being "biologically appropriate", which Champion trademarked as "MIRROR THE QUANTITY, FRESHNESS AND VARIETY OF MEATS THAT NATURE EVOLVED DOGS AND CATS TO EAT." Translation: if a dog (i.e. wolf) is out in the wild, what are they gonna be eating? Will it be the corn or wheat that Purina tries to convince you are part of a healthy canine diet? No, it'll be meat because dogs are frickin' carnivores. 

2) A wide variety of healthy and natural ingredients

First I'm going to introduce you to the ingredients panel of a dog food called "Prize" that was found in the fabled Haggen (soon to be Albertsons, hopefully) down the street: 

Crap dog foods pride themselves on convincing you that corn, soy, and wheat are part of a "balanced" canine diet when, in fact, a lot of dogs actually exhibit allergies because of it. Does your dog neurotically lick its paws? Does your dog get a lot of ear infections or staph infections? How about excess shedding and hot spots? These could all be the result of a food allergy. Let's go through the "Prize" panel piece by piece: GROUND YELLOW CORN is the main ingredient. Bad. MEAT AND BONE MEAL. What the hell does that mean? When you see "meat and bone" without an animal attached to it, that means it's mystery meat. It's basically the leftovers of slaughterhouse waste that wasn't used for human consumption. Think hot dogs for dogs. Sure, I love a good hot dog but eating them everyday would probably make me pretty damn unhealthy. Continuing on we get CORN GLUTEN MEAL, GROUND MEAT, and WHEAT MILL RUN. Corn, wheat, wheat. So far in this food we have a ton of corn, a ton of wheat, and mystery meat. 

But that's not all, as we've got MORE mystery ingredients in the form of ANIMAL FAT and ANIMAL DIGEST. Again, if you don't know what animal it's coming from then you should stay away. 

Now, let's move onto the ingredients panel for the Duck and Bartlett Pear formula of Acana:

I think the big difference between the two panels, other than "Prize" being crap, is that with Acana (and its sister brand Orijen) you can actually READ and UNDERSTAND the ingredients. DUCK is the first and second ingredient. Notice also the use of DUCK FAT as opposed to ANIMAL FAT. They're telling you exactly what you're getting. When you read an ingredient you should ask yourself why it's being used. WHY is the first ingredient in "Prize" corn? WHY is there mystery meat? WHY is there so much corn and wheat instead of meat? 

By now you may be asking what the difference is between Orijen and Acana and it pretty much comes down to a slightly different selection of flavors and Orijen having more protein. In fact, it's pretty much the richest kibble you're gonna find on the market, with Orijen's Regional Red formula leading the way with 38% crude protein, almost twice as much as that "Prize" crap up there. Here are the ingredients for Regional Red, as taken from Orijen's website. Prepare to be blown away:

Boneless Angus beef*, boneless wild boar*, boneless lamb*, beef liver*, boneless pork*, pork liver*, whole herring*, lamb liver*, beef meal, lamb meal, herring meal, salmon meal, Pollock meal, beef tripe*, bison*, lamb fat, whole egg*, red lentils, chickpeas, green peas, yellow peas, green lentils, herring oil, pea fibre, yams*, sun-cured alfalfa, pumpkin, butternut squash*, spinach greens*, carrots*, Red Delicious apples*, Bartlett pears*, cranberries*, blueberries*, kelp, licorice root, angelica root, fenugreek, marigold flowers, sweet fennel, peppermint leaf, chamomile, dandelion, summer savory, rosemary, Enterococcus faecium.

* FRESH AND PRESERVATIVE-FREE

The first FIFTEEN ingredients are MEAT. FIFTEEN!!! You've also got fruit and veggies in here, not to mention an abundance of super foods (i.e. blueberries and kelp). With Orijen and Acana you do pay more, but you get more, and on a rich diet like this you'll actually be feeding your dog less than you would with some crap food that's loaded with fillers.

3) Champion Petfoods is extremely transparent: 

There aren't any sourcing mysteries here: everything that Champion uses is locally sourced, and they openly list the companies they work with on their bags of dog food. There's nothing from China. You're not going to get more transparent than that.

4) Dogs are carnivores, not omnivores. Their bodies respond well to meat-based diets, not grain-based diets: 

Believe it or not I actually like Purina. They put a ton of effort into their marketing and it's almost like they're blatantly proud of how disgusting their food is. You gotta respect that. They also like to pretend that dogs have evolved into omnivores, i.e. they eat both meat and plants. This is the reason they market "the power of grain" because as an omnivore their systems can easily handle the excess plant protein. But that's not true, and you need to look no further than this simple graphic that, conveniently, was PROVIDED BY PURINA:

Alright, guys, look at the molars on the damn omnivore skull. Those things are for grinding meat. In fact, they're MORE pronounced than the carnivore's and look NOTHING like the herbivore's! AND THIS WAS ON PURINA'S WEBSITE!!! Just look at your dog's teeth. Those are teeth are built for meat, meaning dogs are still carnivores. They may all evolve one day to be plant eaters but today that's simply not the case. This is why a corn diet is not healthy for your dog.

5) My dogs are the only proof I need: 

I've had golden retrievers my whole life. My second golden, Cara, was diagnosed with an aggressive (and becoming all too common) cancer called hemangiosarcoma when she was only 7. She passed away 3 months later. Cara's diet was Blue Buffalo's chicken and rice formula, which was packed with grain and wheat. Her treats consisted of Milk Bones and Blue Bakery, which are also loaded with wheat and grains (Milk Bones also contain the mystery MEAT AND BONE MEAL). For much of her life she would neurotically lick her paws, routinely get ear and staph infections, and shed excessively, even for a golden's standards. Vets gave her steroids and other antibiotics but no one ever suggested all of this could be a food allergy. I don't blame anyone for this because the vets didn't know and we didn't know. Simple as that. During her post-diagnosis stage, she went on a raw diet of fresh meat and veggies. For those last 3 months ALL of these problems went away. You'd think during a time when her body was more compromised (especially after surgery) she'd be more susceptible to allergies but nope. Nothing.

Fast forward to today. Her successor, Jenny, another golden, is 2. She has been on Orijen and Acana for most of her life. Her diet is supplemented with fresh fruits and veggies (blueberries, carrots, radishes, etc.) and her treats contain minimal ingredients, some being purely raw meat. She's healthy as a clam and has never had the issues Cara had on Blue Buffalo. She barely sheds, which is unusual, especially for a golden. Ears are good. Doesn't lick paws. No skin or staph infections. See a pattern here? 

The only real "power of grain" is how sick it can get your dog. Canine cancer is on the rise. The life expectancy of purebred canines is going down. Why? Well, poor breeding is one reason, but how about the fact that the dog food market has exploded over the last half century? Kibble is convenient and most are affordable, sure, but a lot of these big brands are sacrificing healthy nutrition for garbage. That's why it's important to KNOW WHAT YOU'RE FEEDING YOUR DOG! Do your research, ask questions, and think about the ingredients. 

Jenny approves of Orijen and Acana

Orijen and Acana: Greg's Gourmet (and Jenny) Approved. 

Bison Burgers

STOP.

THE.

PRESSES.

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls; I have just had a perfectly cooked piece of meat. Let me tell you something: I got a steak at Chili's. Asked for medium rare...I got rare.

Got a steak from Olive Garden. Asked for medium...I got a living cow.

Saw the bison burger on the menu of the Pacific Beach AleHouse. How could I resist? I ordered medium...I got an orgasm:

Hallelujah!

Let me tell ya - this burger was probably the best I've had in recent memory. It was big, it was moist, it was juicy, and it was delicious. Seriously outta sight. And the fries weren't anything to skip on either! Flavorful, seasoned, fantabulous. 

One thing that didn't work, however, were the Rattlesnakes:

Looks like poop on a plate

These are bacon wrapped jalapenos stuffed with some kind of spicy cream cheese sauce. Normally I love jalapenos and anything that they're stuffed with, but these things were hotter than the frickin' fires of Mt. Doom. I was ready to drown my pallet in that ranch because these things were so damn hot. What the hell happened here? Is that normal? 

It's honestly gotten to the point where if a restaurant can cook a piece of meat properly then they're already in the upper-tier as far as I'm concerned. This bison burger, though...a thing of beauty.

Fruit Salad Friday

Hello everyone and Happy New Year. This post marks Greg's Gourmet's sixth year of food blogging, carbohydrates, and fart jokes. Although this blog has been quiet the past couple of years, it had something of a rejuvenation this winter, with nine of 2015's 25 posts coming in November and December. I'm hoping to keep that up.

Anyway, while Greg's Gourmet is generally known for eating challenges, full-fat beef, and intestinal reorganization prior to large meals, one thing I've been steady with for several weeks has been delicious, delicious fruit salads. I find that when I have a fruit salad at work I'm better able to get through the rest of the day. I get a jolt of energy and in general I just feel good. Shouldn't be surprising - the closer you are to an all-natural diet the better you'll feel. Because of my dedication to healthy eating at work, I've created the theme of "Fruit Salad Friday," though it's kind of a formality because technically EVERY DAY is Fruit Salad Friday:

This was actually from Christmas (which, coincidentally, was a Friday), but it exemplifies what I'm going for in a layered, multi-colored concoction of fresh fruit. This one in particular is 10 layers deep: Pineapple, apple, watermelon, grape, kiwi, banana, blackberry, blueberry, raspberry, and Maraschino cherry. 

Here's what the work fruit salads are looking like:

I always try to create some kind of base for each salad, usually a melon or pineapple because, obviously, they're larger fruits. Then you top that with your mid-sized fruits (bananas, kiwis, apples), and then top it with berries. I also like to throw some chia seeds on top for a cheap source of protein and fiber. 

I'd highly recommend giving a fruit salad a chance. Check out Sprouts for the best priced and highest quality produce and create your own. For the work salads like the one above I usually include 5-7 fruits. Give it a try. 

O Christmas Sandwich, O Christmas Sandwich!

Well, the holidays came and went. Hope everyone had a swell time and ate some good gourmet. I know I did. Of course with the holidays comes all the seasonal goodness and with all the seasonal goodness comes...CHRISTMAS SANDWICHES!!!

The Greg's Gourmet Dictionary defines Christmas Sandwiches as "turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and gravy packed into a buttered dinner roll." See, the trick is you don't want too much of any one thing because then you're gonna make a mess and look like an asshole. What you wanna do is start with a thin slice of turkey, top it with some stuffing, then use the potatoes as a paste to keep everything together. Top that with some gravy and you're good to go. In recent years I've become fond of trying the sandwiches on all different kinds of rolls: white, wheat, Hawaiian, sourdough, ciabatta; it's a pleasure. 

Moving on, here's the entree:

This was actually very poorly plated on my part. In a twist of Greg's Gourmet fate, I began my plate off with a small side of fruit salad, which is something I never do. I think packing that onto the plate is what caused such a spacing discrepancy and, in turn, created some wasted empty space up front. But that's okay. I made up for it:

It's a lot harder to make leftovers look attractive.

Oh, and here's something new - the delicious and sensuous 10 Layer Fruit Salad:

I have a story about this salad that I'm gonna post later, but for the record it contains: pineapple, watermelon, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, grapes, bananas, kiwis, apples, and Maraschino cherries. 

If you haven't tried this then you should! Candy Cane Marshmallows dipped in dark chocolate, available at Sprouts.

Oh, and here's a piece of fake poop just cause:

Anywho, hope everyone had a great holiday season and wishing you all a Happy New Year!

The Return of Albertsons

Well, sort of.

Return in the sense that I had to make a special trek to visit the closest Albertsons, which served as my first such visit to the chain since Haggen came in and destroyed everything. I guess that dates back to February or so.

Anyway, I made a special trip to Escondido to pick up two specific items that only Albertsons can deliver. At work I started a little theme day called "Wedges N' Wings Wednesday" which, of course, capitalizes on the glorious combination of chicken wings and potato wedges. I don't know about you but I think the pair goes together like milk and cookies or turkey and gravy or Jared Fogle and jail; it just seems like a natural combination.

Albertsons has a nice deal at their deli called "Pick 3"; an entree and two sides for $5.50. It's a deal I used to get once a week in the early days of Greg's Gourmet, but eventually it was time to move onto other eating challenges, so I haven't had the "Pick 3" since 2013 or so. Imagine my happiness when I stepped into this Albertsons, ventured over to their deli, and saw the same sign that I grew to know and love once upon a time at an Albertsons not so far away: Pick 3 for $5.50. Oh, the glory! Granted, the Albertsons in Escondido doesn't have the extensive 8-flavor wing bar as the one that used to be on Balboa Avenue, but hey, it had 3 flavors of wings plus wedges. Good enough for me. For my second side I got, of course, mac n' cheese:

I don't remember the wing flavors here but I think they were regular, zesty, and honey...and they were FANTABULOUS. Everything about this meal was awesome, even the epic farts it gave me afterwards. I can't wait to go back. 

The second item I came for is a product that has been a favorite of mine since before the Pick 3 and that is, of course, the purple bag of Albertsons chocolate chip cookies:

Seeing that shade of purple again made me feel like Indiana Jones first laying eyes on the Holy Grail. These cookies are THE BEST. THE BEST, JERRY. THE BEST! I bought two bags; one for home, and one for the Cookie Party at work the following day. My plan (and hope) was that no one would go into them and I'd just take that bag home at the end of the day. At 5 PM I was in the kitchen and they were still sitting there, untouched. When I headed out at 5:50 the bag was gone. GONE. Obviously someone missed these things as much as I did. 

Oh yeah, I also bought some Strawberry Lemonade Gatorade which, for some reason, is really hard to find locally. Albertsons easily went 3-for-3. 

The question I'm curious about is when (and if) Albertsons is moving back into the stores they bought back in San Diego. They purchased the Haggen in Rancho Bernardo but due to ongoing legal issues, it's not exactly known if (or when) they're coming back. The other question is what will this reincarnation of Albertsons be like? Keep in mind they're now part of Safeway/Vons and that chain sucks big time. I guess as long as they have the wing bar, chocolate chip cookies, and strawberry lemonade Gatorade then I'll be happy. Actually, you know what? I think having ANYTHING there other than Haggen will make me happy. 

5 Things Haggen Did Wrong When Entering Southern California

I went on an extensive visual rant about Haggen a few weeks ago as they were commencing their "going out of business sale." The question on everyone's mind is how could a large grocer fail in such a short period of time? It's a case study that I'm sure will find its way into college business courses for years to come, but in the meantime we're left with the scattered pieces of a failed business, multiple lawsuits, and a whole lot of questions that don't have answers. What we can do in the meantime, like all good Americans without rhyme or reason, is speculate.

Although it's now closed for good, the empty aisles within these walls aren't much emptier than they were when the store was open

In my fascination of this failure, I've been researching Haggen for a few days trying to find clues as to what the hell happened. I've uncovered some interesting tidbits about the company as well as a handful of corporate conspiracies, like this was all preordained. While I lean more toward it being a failure of general idiocy and incompetent management, all of Haggen's 146 stores ultimately suffered the same fate. 

So...

5 Things Haggen Did Wrong When Entering Southern California 

(and Nevada and Arizona)

1) Entering Southern California

Yeah, just entering Southern California was a dumb move from the beginning. No research of the market, no understanding of the demographics, no clue on anything. You know why everyone makes fun of us Southern Californians? It's because we're crazy. We're nuts. We panic at the first drop of rain but then wear sandals during a storm. We pay large amounts of money to fill up our gas tanks and then sit in traffic for two hours on one of our 57,895 freeways. Why Good Will Haggen felt compelled to join us down here is as surprising as Ted Cruz saying something that doesn't sound like it originated from a can of horse feces. 

I've never actually been inside a closing supermarket; it's a surreal and eerie feeling

2) Expanding from 18 stores to 164 overnight

I don't know if these Albertsons and Safeway stores were a packaged deal or if Haggen just went all in when acquiring them, but what kind of dumbass expands tenfold overnight? Even if those 18 stores were more successful than a pig that shits bacon, why even flirt with that kind of disaster? Heck, even if those 146 stores WERE a packaged deal, WHY WOULD YOU DO IT? I used to work for a retail company that operated two successful stores for many years. One day they decided to expand and opened three new stores within the span of five months and have struggled ever since. Now, let's do the math; if that family-owned retail business were to expand like Haggen did overnight, then they would have gone from those two original stores all the way to EIGHTEEN. How can a business sustain that kind of growth in such a short period of time? Answer: they can't. 

The aisles became narrower and narrower as the going out of business sale dragged on

3) Cut employee hours and pay

Having somebody take over your company and then cut your pay is like giving money to someone who just bought your house. Click this link to shimmy over to Haggen's Glassdoor page where you can read rants and reviews from Haggen employees where one of the most common complaints is that shortly after arriving, the company immediately cut the hours and pay of its employees. According to Glassdoor, many full-time employees were demoted to part-time as schedules were randomly shifted and paycheck numbers gradually decreased. How can you expect your work force to give a shit if that's how you're going to show your appreciation right off the bat? 

The first time I entered a Haggen was a couple weeks after it transitioned from one of the local Albertsons. Immediately upon entering I noticed that employees seemed unhappy and I think Glassdoor confirms why. You may need to sign up for an account, but it's worth it if you want to read firsthand accounts of those who were trapped in the hull of the ship as it sank.

Shrinking produce

4) Jack up the prices

Haggen was frickin' EXPENSIVE. Who the hell conceived this pricing structure? Haggen was so expensive that it wasn't until their going out of business sale hit 40% off that their prices became moderately competitive - and even then it was a stretch. The other thing is that these stores were operating in neighborhoods that simply couldn't afford that kind of a price increase and those who could didn't bother because hey, I could get the same product for 50% less right down the street! A Naked juice and small thing of blackberries goes for about $8 at Haggen. I drive up the street to Sprouts and the price drops to $4.50 for the pair. It was like that ALL THROUGHOUT THE STORE!

I guess this dildo banana keeper is one of them Trader Joe's-esque items Haggen was so proud to carry

5) Zero marketing upon arrival

I don't know, maybe they did have marketing but it was probably so dumb that I never noticed. I think they sent out an insert or two in the beginning but outside of that we may as well have invited Kevin Bacon from Hollow Man to stand on a street corner waving a sign and the results would have been the same. Dude, how do you even pronounce Haggen? Is it Haggen like HAHAHA or is it Haggen like HEY HEY HEY? One of the articles I read today actually answered this question: it's pronounced HEY-gen which means I've been saying it wrong like an asshole for eight months. See, if they had any kind of introductory campaign to the community then we could have learned how to say the damn place's name properly. 

At least they weren't in short supply of 3 Musketeers bars!

Nobody even knew what this place was about. The general thought was it would be like a Trader Joe's or something but it didn't really carry any new or unusual products. It also tried to pride itself on having great-tasting fresh produce but let me tell ya: their produce tasted like donkey shit and looked worse. The worst watermelon I ever tasted was from Haggen and their berries looked like they had tuberculosis crawling on them. Oh, and their Honeycrisp apples went for nearly $4 per pound, but you could find the same apples for 99 cents a pound right up the street at Sprouts. Boom. 

8000 people were in danger of losing their jobs. Some managed to find work but many were let go just in time for the holidays. Oh, that's another thing: the original closing date for our local Haggen stores was two days before Thanksgiving. They extended it 10 days into December, but eh. Who gives a shit? You'd like to think that maybe this was a mistake based on pure ignorance but the reality is Haggen operated like a bunch of assholes. Employees didn't find out about the closures until they heard it on the news or read it on the Internet. 

Currently Haggen is suing Albertsons for, like, selling them failing stores or something. Albertsons bought back a lot of their original properties but anti-monopoly laws may prevent them from setting up camp. Even if they do win their case, it'll be months before these stores are up and running again. Unless your local store was purchased by a Gelson's or a Sprouts then chances are you're gonna have a large vacant building to stare at for a while. Oh, and it also seems that Haggen is selling off their original 18 stores in Washington and Oregon. They claim the stores were doing well but who the hell knows? I guess the idea is they'd sell them but maintain the Haggen name but who really cares anymore?

Thank you Haggen for providing future business students with a fascinating case of corporate greed and idiocy. Also, congratulations on being inducted into the Greg's Gourmet Hall of Shame where you'll join Vons, Jack Link's Beef Jerky, Wendy's, and Blue Buffalo as true demonstrators of incompetence. Kudos from all of us at Greg's Gourmet!

There's something oddly poetic about where the stop sign is framed in this picture, like, stop being a jackass, Haggen! 

Greg's Gourmet - The *New* T-Shirt!

Don't look now but Greg's Gourmet blogged a whopping *FIVE* times in November, the most in any month since July of 2014 and only the second time since July of 2013 that I've hit that number. Is Greg's Gourmet officially back? I'm not sure. It's been a good two years or so since I've regularly blogged and I've tried to relaunch this site a few times since then but it just hasn't stuck. We'll see how the updates continue along before officially declaring GG back in the game. I will say this though: life is a lot more entertaining when people know you're a food blogger, a critic, and kind of an all-around douche. All the more reason to stick with it.

But check this out: coming soon to a discount rack, dollar store, or rag bin near you - Greg's Gourmet...THE BRAND SPANKIN' NEW T-SHIRT!!!

The product turned out better than I expected. With the vast amount of colors and detail I wasn't sure they'd come out as clearly as they did. The guys at VistaPrint did a heck of a job!

I made this logo several years ago during this blog's prime but never did anything with it, which is weird because this one is superior to the others in virtually every single way. Here's a closer look at it:

I love that this asshole is wearing his own t-shirt as well, a clear nod to how egotistical and all around narcissistic this blog is. 

I don't have a devised plan for this shirt yet. I experimented with a product line a few years ago via Cafe Press. If you hop on over to the Gourmet Models section of the site you can see some of the old shirts and other goods we produced. For some reason the "Gourmet Gear" store at Cafe Press isn't working, but I've got a note into them to figure out what's going on. Either way, trying to pimp out that store and sell products was hard enough. Plus everything there is a rip off anyway so it's like what's the point? I sell a $20 t-shirt and get eighteen cents from it? Nah. 

Still, I'm really happy with how this one turned out.