Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
CARING teenager Osian Clark is putting his culinary skills to the test by producing a range of healthy snacks for four-legged friends and to raise funds at the same time for animal shelters in the kingdom.
He is baking several tasty small bites – doggy biscuits, cookies and cakes – and already orders are flooding in from supporters of the initiative whose pets simply ‘woof’ them down.
St Christopher’s School student Osian, 13, of British and Chinese descent, recently launched Fox Phood and all profits are going towards helping animal charities to purchase supplies.
Osian bakes the treats from his kitchen at home in Saar, and said it started off as a ‘venture of love’ and as a way to acknowledge the care and company animals give to so many people. “What better way to reward them for all that affection than giving them the thing they love best – food!” he said.
“I decided to create some delicious pet treats as a one off fund-raiser for local charities who are always desperate for funds to cover the cost of feeding the animals in their care. I thought up the idea a couple of weeks ago and it suddenly took off with orders coming in!”
He named the enterprise Fox Phood in honour of his family’s late beloved rescue dog, Fox. The mongrel mutt died at the age of 16 and his memory will now live on thanks to his beloved master.
His mum Weena runs her own home-based catering and beauty businesses Yum Cha Kitchen and The Lash Room Bahrain and his dad, Chris, works for Onyx trading and contracting group. “They had rescued and adopted Fox before I was even born,” Osian said, “and he went on to play an important part in my heart throughout my childhood.
“I added Phood to his name because I wanted to state clearly that it was a food-related business but spelt it in a funny way to create a more urban chill feeling. Funnily enough, Fox’s favourite word, guaranteed to make his tail wag, was ‘Sik Fan’, a Chinese phrase used to call out to people to eat or gather for a meal.”
Osian says all the ingredients he uses to create the snacks are safe to be consumed by animals and consist of a base mixture featuring wheat, eggs, milk, flour, coconut oil, peanut butter, apples, carrots, shredded coconuts and oats.
He tried them out first on his two-year-old pets Goldie and Flash and they devoured them swiftly.
Mum Weena says Osian has always liked helping out in the kitchen and in his last year at junior school, he teamed up with a few of his friends to compete in a Master Chef contest and his team came second.
He also regularly feeds strays animals when he gets the chance. “Osian has been thinking for a long time about how he could help more,” he added.
She is lending a helping hand to the venture too by donating a percentage of the sales from her businesses to help towards covering the costs of making the animal snacks.
All proceeds from the sales are being divided between charity associations, such as the late Tony the Dogfather’s animal shelter in Saar and the BSPCA’s animal welfare centre in Askar.
As well as selling them online via Instagram, the treats are also available for the two charity’s shops. The cakes are priced at BD4 to BD6 and the biscuits and cookies cost between BD2 or BD3, depending on package size.
Osian hopes that his initiative will encourage other children to also give back to the community. He said: “Perhaps others will be inspired and motivated to help make a difference too. This was the perfect time to launch as it is the month of giving.”
To find out more, follow Osian @foxphood.bh
