There are many Lebanese restaurants across the U.S. which sell a raw lamb
dish called Kibbeh.  Even in Ohio (where I currently live) restaurants serve
it.  Apparently the health dept. doesn't give them grief for doing this,
although many people in the U.S. are afraid of eating raw or rare meat.

At an X-Mas party at a popular Lebanese restaurant, hosted by my husband's
boss (who is Lebanese), my husband and I were happy to finally try kibbeh, a
raw lamb dish. (I know it has a little bit of bulgar wheat in it, but not
much and we so rarely eat grain!).  It was interesting to see how people
reacted to seeing the raw meat appetizer plates.

Our enthusiasm about seeing several plates of raw lamb on the table and the
gusto with which we ate it actually inspired a handful of people who had
never eaten raw meat--and were afraid to--to try it.   Some were very
skeptical and thought they wouldn't like it, but actually they LOVED it.  A
few of them really got into it.  In fact, a few of them said they'd like to
go back and just order a plate of the raw meat!!!  They were hooked.  No one
got sick!  If people frequently got sick from Kibbeh, you can bet it would
not be on the menus in all these Middel Eastern restaurants!

It was fun to watch people get over the initial shock, curiously try raw
meat, then really, really, really like it!! :))  Some of them had seen Don
bring steak tartare in his lunch or ceviche with salad and had asked him
what he was eating before (nothing new, his lunches usually look great to
them).  They were really open to the idea of eating raw meat after tasting
it at the party.

I wonder how many restaurants in the US serve steak tartare, Ceviche,
Kibbeh, Carpaccio, and other raw meat dishes.  I recall seeing Ceviche on
the menu in a classy seafood cafe in Seattle, WA about 10 years ago!  Some
may think it is risky, but the practice may be more widespread than many
realize.

I also had a cooking student who told me about eating pheasant and also wild
goose in a posh restaurant in Florida, cooked rare!  Neither she nor her
hubby got sick.  They were just curious because of injunctions against
eating rare poultry.

Rachel
(who eats some raw meats and some cooked meats)