Jim,

> >Of those that eat raw meat, how do you eat it - cold, straight out of the
> >refridgerator or warm? If you warm it, how? Help me out a bit here. What
> >do I need to know?
> >
> >I need some guidance on my first raw meat steps. (And some convincing that
> >I *should* eat raw meat.)

ginny wilken wrote:
>Try just a taste raw here and there, and gradually cook for less and less
>time. Certain items will be more approachable than others.

I would second that. My first attempts, a few years ago, at eating raw meat
consisted of just trying a small piece every now and then. At first, I
didn't particularly enjoy the taste and texture of it, but I did find that
it seemed to be very easy to digest. After a while, I found that there were
times when I actually preferred the thought of eating it raw. Now, I eat
quite a bit of my meat raw, but there are still times when I prefer it
cooked. It just depends on the quality, and on how I happen to be feeling
at the time.

The way I usually eat raw meat now (mostly chicken and beef) is to cut up a
chunk of it into very small pieces (about 1/2 cm cubes) and mix in any or
all of: some herbs, garlic, fresh ginger, lemon or lime juice, and a little
sea salt. At other times, I just pick up a piece of meat and bite off
mouthfuls.

If I'm home, I eat it as it comes out of the fridge, not warmed up in any
way. If I'm going out, I take it with me in a glass jar without any special
attempts to keep it cool, and have had no problems with that.

I also eat raw fish (mostly salmon and tuna), which I like to eat straight,
without any special preparation.

If you feel that it would be easier for you to start enjoying raw meat if
you could see somebody else doing it, perhaps we should get together for
lunch sometime? I sometimes feel that I would benefit from observing other
people eating things that I think I'd like to try, but can't quite muster
up the enthusiasm for.

I'd also suggest that it's worth experimenting with meat that's been aged
for varying amounts of time. I just keep mine in the fridge in an open
container and gradually use it over the course of a week or so. (Some
people will age their meat much longer than that.) It gradually dries out,
and the flavour changes a bit. I don't have a particular preference for
really fresh or slightly aged meat, but I do enjoy the variation.

Barbara