Fun and Fitness for the 40-Something

Any pate lovers out there? You may have cut back due to the recession, but I have good news—you might just be satisfied with dog food. The Association of Wine Economists just released a study that suggests most people can’t tell the difference between pate and dog food.

Researchers gave 18 volunteers five unlabeled blended meat products—duck liver mousse, pork liver pate, pureed liverwurst, Spam and Newman’s Own dog food. Only three correctly identified the dog food, even though they had been warned that it would be included in the samples. Eight volunteers thought the liverwurst was the dog food, and four believed it was the Spam. Three others concluded either the pate or the mousse was dog food.

The conclusion, acccording to the study’s co-author: “We have this idea in our head that dog food won’t taste good and that we would be able to identify it, but it turns out that is not the case.”