Liza,

> Last week we bought a piece of luscious looking steak at our Whole Foods
> store, put together a salad from their salad bar, sat down in their cafe, and
> ate it our steak raw.

Did you really eat it or just imagine to do so?

We handle meat in a different way:

First, we don't eat it when it is fresh, because usually it
doesn't taste good, then. It has to be hung for a while,
until it develops a delicious aroma.

Then, we only ever eat it, when it smells totally attracting and delicious.
This is especially important with all meat from overbreeded animals, like
cattle or pigs.

And finally, we try to eat nothing else together with meat. Because meat
digest best, when it is combined with nothing else. Otherwise it can cause
all kinds of sickness symptoms.

> It was very scary.  I think I could find it delicious -
> but I'm scared of it just CRAWLING with microbes.

That is probably true, especially when you have hung it for a while.
But these microbes make it tasty and easier to digest. Think of
cheese, for example. It is made from milk by mould and microbes.
Or tea or chocolate, their aroma is caused by 'fermentation',
which is a nice word for 'rotting' or beeing modified by
microrganisms.

> Honestly, although I feel safe eating it cooked

That is a matter of experience. I feel quite save eating it raw
and I would never touch it if it were heated in any way.

> I live near Washington DC, so we don't have organic meat raisers nearby

That is a very common problem. I would not eat the regular meat
at least not without a very urgent need. Even the meat delivered
by most "organic" producers is not very good, because the feed
the animals with grains. And that can produce problems in people
who are sensitive to it, for example because they had allergies.

-Karl