Plant-based dog food is growing in popularity but remains controversial in the general public as many people believe that dogs’ nutritional requirements are carnivorous (rather than omnivorous) and therefore would not be able to remain healthy on a meat-free diet.
The evolutionary history and speciation of dogs away from their wolf ancestors were driven by adaptations to consume an omnivorous diet with large quantities of plant-based ingredients. Their domestication by humans guided their evolution from a mostly carnivorous diet to a starch-rich diet.