-for the
>person that was a vegetarian and now eats raw meat...how were you able to
>start to like it...what mental prompts did you give yourself...i know...you
>just eat it, but..for me it is not that easy. i feel afraid to eat raw
>meat/blood, eggs, etc.

I took the decision to eat only undenatured foods after reading
Guy-claude
Burger's book ( available only on  the web in english)
http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Spa/5976/

from there ,the problem was to find this food . Living in a tiny
vilage up
in the mountains between France and spain, it was crucial for me to
not
neglect any possible source of raw undenatured foods. The fruits and
vegetables were available at the farmer's market. they took care of
the
carbohydrate needs and replace advantageously the many different kinds
of
whole grains ( my diet was based on them ). the nuts were allready
harvested
by me in the wild ( filberts and walnuts ) and could buy raw peanuts
in
shell in spain ( i miss them now )
that took care for a while of my deficiency in fats ( years later i
had to
look more in animal fats )
I was working in a ski resort when i started the 1rst of january . I
piled
up shells of wild filberts on my plate for months , and when spring
came and
my supply was getting low i had to find others sources of proteins and
fats.
living in the mountains pastured free range by sheeps, cows and horses
among
the wild population of "Izard" and " mouflons " and sangliers ( kind
of
mountain antelope and  wild sheep and wild boar ) it just made sense
to use
this potential of natural foods .
from there i hade to deal with my resistances and preconceived ideas
but
the decision of eating instinctively is precisely the process to deal
with
that .
so i play the game , bought lamb and smelled it ,tried it , and didn't
know
what to think of the taste , after few trials like that the message
came
clear that i loved it ., digested it perfect and felt good afteward
for a
long time .

the meat helped me to let go of the good french cheeses ( goat ,cows
and
sheep )

>what about pork...do you eat bacon raw?

i will consider it suicidal to eat commercial bacon.( slowly but
surely)

i ate domestic  pork raw few time while in France  from pigs roaming
free
underneath chestnuts and oak trees . it was the best meat that i ever
tasted
at the time , then i was getting wild boar so the pig felt not so
interesting in comparaison.
Since i am here ( 9 years)  i don't eat pork. there is no good pork
available anywhere that i know
farmers knows that to make an animal fat they need to give them
debatured
foods ( in france they cook tubers and potatoes) .If i had the land
for it i
will raise wild boar as a priority over other kinds of meat .

>someone said they "ripen" meat in the fridge....to me this is akin to
>rotten...meat left in fridge after a while smells bad...to me anyway...in
>ripening...does the meat not have a decomposed odor?

i observed that commercial meat are not ripening properly they have a
tendancy to rot and smell bad . a good healthy meat if hung in the
fridge
with circulating air around make a dry "skin" that allow the ripening
. I
use a fan when the fridge is crowded and produce too much moisture.
Left in a packing ( especialy plastic ones)  is the sure way to get
the meat
to rot. A well ripened meat is giving off a very sweet attractive
smell when
i need it .
In the pyrennees i was hanging the meat underneath my gypsy wagon in a
screen caged and with the circulating dry winds of altitude was
giving me a
marvelous product .
In france ,the cheeses and wine are known to be  tastier if ripened in
altitude.

the passage to meat was easy for me because i started from the quality
criteria .
i will not avice anyone to eat commercial meats , raw but i will not
advice
either to eat them cooked.
Now after many years of being strict about instincto quality meats,  i
relaxed to survive and to have more  diverse opportunity to eat
animals
products .
I doen't work great but i can take the loss because of the gain of
eating
more animals.( deadly compromise ).

jean-claude