Thanks from someone who just ate raw liver for the first time

[robbie1687]

Until yesterday it had never occurred to me to eat raw meat.    I've always assumed it could be dangerous.  But yesterday I stumbled across this forum and read for several hours.  Lex's journal made a particularly big impression.

I noticed that there are a lot of people here eating raw meat -- even rotten raw meat -- and very little sickness.

Reading about food made me hungry, so after a while I went to the refrigerator and took out a package of Northstar ground bison which had been defrosting overnight.   I had been planning to cook it.  I sliced off three narrow strips and ate it standing at the counter.   It tasted good.   It tasted like a kind of sashimi.  Really, it tasted quite good.

A couple of hours went by and I didn't get sick, so I ate most of the rest of the package.   In all, I ate about 14 ounces of raw bison yesterday.   I ate half of it plain and the other half sandwiched on thin slices of cucumber with a little salt.  It was a nice meal.

Just now I read some more and decided to try something more adventurous, so I defrosted a package of grass-fed beef liver.  (I started buying this stuff from US Wellness two weeks ago.)

The thing is, I hate beef liver.   I bought this piece as an experiment, expecting to throw it out after I cooked it.

I sliced off a tiny piece and tasted it cautiously.   I tried to taste it as if for the first time.   It wasn't bad.   I ate the second piece.  Really, not bad at all.  But the liver was very cold, just barely defrosted, and that dulls the taste.  For a full experiment a sliced off a fairly large piece and kept it in my mouth till it warmed up and chewed thoroughly.   It really isn't bad.

I've been on a more-or-less paleo diet for about two years, but if I hadn't stumbled across this forum yesterday, I don't know if I would ever have tried raw meat.

Now I have, and I imagine I'll mostly eat it that way for the rest of my life.  It seems obvious to me that it's a good idea to try to eat foods that evolution designed us to eat, and clearly raw foods come closer to that ideal than cooked ones.

I'd like to thank everybody here and especially Lex.

[Raw Kyle]

How nice! So what are you planning on eating next?

[Ioanna]

Welcome! I have yet to try raw liver, but your introduction was encouraging

It will be so great to read about your experiences from cooked to raw as you have already been paleo for some time!  I hope you'll keep a journal!!

[goodsamaritan]

Hooray and congratulations!

Thank you for sharing your first experience, you just added to the body of knowledge that will inspire others as well.

Spread the word...

[robbie1687]

How nice! So what are you planning on eating next?

The rest of the liver -- gotta finish it!      I have a craving to try suet and marrow.

I hope you'll keep a journal!!

Thanks for the welcome!    Maybe I will.

[PaleoPhil]

...I've been on a more-or-less paleo diet for about two years, but if I hadn't stumbled across this forum yesterday, I don't know if I would ever have tried raw meat.

Now I have, and I imagine I'll mostly eat it that way for the rest of my life.  It seems obvious to me that it's a good idea to try to eat foods that evolution designed us to eat, and clearly raw foods come closer to that ideal than cooked ones.

I'd like to thank everybody here and especially Lex.

Welcome. I was thinking just yesterday how eating raw meat seems natural to me at this point, and I was thinking about my original plan--to go back at some point to eating all cooked meat and see if there are any negative effects--but I couldn't think of a reason for cooking. I now like raw meats, my health benefits from them, I save time by not cooking and dirtying pots and pans, I save on electricity, my home stays cooler in the summer without cooking, I haven't gotten food poisoning at all, ... so what are the reasons FOR cooking? Beyond fitting in socially, I'm having trouble coming up with any.

[robbie1687]

... so what are the reasons FOR cooking?

Until a couple days ago I would have said the main reason is killing pathogens.   If that's not an issue, then I don't think there are any good reasons.

Another thing I've always disliked about cooking meat is that (in my kitchen at least, where the ventilation is poor) fat vaporizes and condenses on the walls and makes everything greasy.

I ate another six ounces of raw liver last night.  This time I was struck not by the slimy texture or unfamiliar taste or beautiful beet-like color but by the fact that I was nourishing myself by eating another living thing's body.  

Of course we do that all the time when we eat muscle, but I'm used to that.  This was the animal's liver, the vital center of its metabolism, one of the cornerstones of its life force.   It had a sort of spiritual impact.

And the liquid was so red, and looked so much like fresh blood.  It was on my hands and all over the plate.  I felt like a real carnivore, like a lion in a Youtube video with its face immersed in a zebra's flank.  

It was sobering.