Kotlin generic type mismatch - kotlin

Question

Is it possible to accept subclass of a class in generics? It works in Java but unfortunatelly I don't know how to make it work in Kotlin.
Simplified problem:
open class Food
class Meat : Food()
interface Animal<T : Food> {
fun eat(food : T)
}
class Dog : Animal<Meat> {
override fun eat(food: Meat) {
// Dog eats meat
}
}
lateinit var pet : Animal<Food>
fun <T : Food> setAnimal(animal: Animal<T>) {
pet = animal // DO NOT COMPILE
}
I would like to method setAnimal() accept all of the animals, no matter which food it likes, and I would like to keep reference to that animal. I thought Kotlin is 100% compatible with Java but when I try to convert class to Kotlin it doesn't convert well and I have to fix that issue. I read a lot of articles but still have no idea how to make it work.
EDIT:
Java code that solves problem but how to do that in Kotlin?
public class Test {
class Food {}
class Meat extends Food {}
interface Animal<T extends Food> {
void eat(T food);
}
class Dog implements Animal<Meat> {
#Override
public void eat(Meat food) {
}
}
private Animal animal;
public void setAnimal(Animal animal) {
this.animal = animal;
animal.eat(new Meat());
}
}
EDIT 2
Sample code which uses out Food, as it was proposed. I've marked line that do not compile.
open class Food
class Meat : Food()
interface Animal<T : Food> {
fun eat(food : T)
}
class Dog : Animal<Meat> {
override fun eat(food: Meat) {
// Dog eats meat
}
}
lateinit var pet : Animal<out Food>
fun <T : Food> setAnimal(animal: Animal<T>) {
val pet : Animal<out Food> = animal
pet.eat(Meat()) // DO NOT COMPILE
}

Answer 1

Use out modifier on pet variable definition
lateinit var pet : Animal<out Food>
More information https://kotlinlang.org/docs/reference/generics.html