Pepe often covers his bowl of food so he can eat it later when he doesn't feel nauseated. He does this by using his nose to move sand over his food. Since we are in short supply of sand in our kitchen, the dishtowel that we put his bowl on has to do. And it does.
Now he only needs to find a solution to that pesky creature called Poupoune, that keeps eating his food the moment he leaves the kitchen. Even when he covered it.