have you ever tasted pet food? they're perfectly safe to eat (the exceptions are those edible chewing-sticks for teething puppies, which are very hard and present a choking hazard). there are stories of people eating stuff like cat food during hard times.

earlier today, i tasted a dog treat (took a small bite). they were training treats, little brown pellets designed to be a reward for good puppies.

to be honest with you, it wasn't that bad. it tasted like a concentrated barbeque sauce compressed into a pellet, that is to say, it had a very intense smokey flavor. texture-wise, i will describe it as dense but soft, it crumbles rather than crunches when you bite down on it. it left a strong and unpleasant aftertaste for a very long time, even after i drank coffee and water.

overall: better than i expected, just a bit too much flavor added to the pellets. that persistant aftertaste turns me away from the idea of eating it during starvation.

on a related note, cat food is designed to be bland because cats can't handle strong flavors, whereas dogs evolved to eat our leftovers