Speaking of eating meat rare or medium rare (which is how I like mine when
cooked), what do you all know of the safety of different kinds of raw meat?
I know it's supposed to be verboten these days to even mention eating meat
raw because of concerns with parasites, salmonella, etc., etc., in modern
meats.

However, there is a school of thought called Instincto similar to Paleodiet
whose followers take the injunction seriously to eat just like our
ancestors. And they go the whole nine yards. (I.e., they eat their meat
raw.) From what I understand, the big risk with bacterial contamination is
more with ground meats--where if even a little bit gets inoculated, it can
spread through an entire batch--rather than whole cuts of meat which aren't
supposed to be nearly as susceptible. But who knows how to confirm that, or
if it's really true? So much of what you hear about raw meat these days
seems to be based on hearsay, scare tactics, emotional buttons being pushed
about even the thought of raw meat, etc.? Rarely does anybody have any
first-hand knowledge, or referenced research cites or studies.

I know a couple of Instincto people myself. One has been eating this way
(everything raw including their meat, and they eat a lot of meat) for eight
years now, never any problems with infections. The other person I know of
who does this has been Instincto for somewhere between 4-6 years, never any
problem. Then they came down with a severe case of trichinosis recently,
almost died, and barely pulled through with the help of Vermox, some kind
of drug to kill the parasites. The ostensible cause after treatment from a
mainstream M.D., among others, was it may have been due to eating a
carnivorous animal (a mongoose they had for supper or something--are they
carnivorous by the way?--that was supposedly contaminated) rather than
herbivorous. The story which was told is that hominids normally did not eat
carnivorous animals in paleolithic times, and thus the cause was pinned on
this. (Does anybody know if that was really the case in Paleolithic times
or not?) Anyway, this case caused quite a stir among those who knew this
fellow, and has been discussed in depth within the last few weeks on the
raw-food listgroup where this person is a member.

Anyway, I have tried some supposedly high-grade-safe raw meat two or three
different times sent to me by an Instincto friend, but I've only done so a
few times because I am too paranoid about the safety issue. I have heard
other people who have tried raw meat say it is tastier, and I would have to
agree in the case of red meat. In the case of fish (I have tried raw salmon
and raw sardines), they were both okay, but with the salmon frankly found I
preferred the taste of cooked salmon better. (I had never had sardines
before, period, and am still wondering what all the hullabaloo about stinky
bad sardines is supposed to be all about--they were fine as far as I was
concerned.)

Anyway, what do you all know about the safety issues? I have the feeling it
is probably not a very big risk probability-wise, but on the other hand, in
the rare .001% case where it reaches up to grab you, you could get bit
hard. As it is, people around me are a little concerned, because I try to
cook my meat as little as possible (some amount of blood still dripping out
of it when done). How does one know what is really safe, anyway, as far as
length of cooking time or appearance of the meat? What are the criteria
supposed to be. I used to be a vegetarian for 17 years and have only been
eating flesh for about 3 years now--fish and fowl for the first 2 years,
and only red meat more recently. Never having cooked period before (toast
and baked potatoes excepted :-) ), I am totally in the dark about meat
preparations and am learning as I go.

Another question is since cooking seems to reduce the nutritional value of
most foods that could otherwise be eaten raw, as well as the potential to
create toxic pyrolitic byproducts as a result of the cooking (although it
may neutralize others), wouldn't it be better to eat meat raw if it you
could be sure of the safety of it? I have never been able to find anyone
who hasn't thought through the evolutionary issues who can get past the
initial emotional reactiveness about the safety issue to even consider the
nutritional side of raw meat vs. cooked meat. They just don't wanna talk
about it. I've also never heard the subject discussed rationally by
mainstream nutritionists. It seems like a socially taboo subject or
something.

Comments, suggestions, debate, etc.?

--Ward Nicholson <[log in to unmask]>