Success

[Projectile Vomit]

I attended a potluck earlier this afternoon put on by a local Transition Town group, which was coupled with a public talk by Ascent of Humanity and Sacred Economics author Charles Eisenstein. I thought I'd be bold and bring a raw meat dish to the potluck to see if anyone would eat it.

I have a decent amount of whitetail deer from this past hunting season, so elected to make sushi rolls. I laid thin slices of raw whitetail deer back strap on nori and wrapped them around a few leaves of green onion and a sliver of crimson carrot (a variety that's deep red on the outside but orange on the inside, a beautiful contrast). I brought some pickled ginger to offer as a condiment, and also made a sauce from raw honey and dijon mustard. As is the custom at these potlucks, I wrote the ingredients on a notecard by the platter so that everyone knew what was being served, and specifically noted that the meat was raw.

Results: 2 pounds of raw deer meat sushi GONE!

Several people asked about the dish, not too surprising given the prevailing taboos against eating raw meat. I explained my largely raw diet and that I've never had problems with parasites or 'bad' bacteria. I also explained that one of my motivations for exploring a raw diet is to reduce my energy demand, as over 30 percent of all energy used to deliver food to people's mouths is used in the home, and much of this is used to cook or process food. Since Transition Towns are all about adapting to Energy Descent (i.e. fossil fuel depletion), people were intrigued by the idea of adopting a raw diet to reduce the embodied energy of food. Most of the people who asked about the dish tried it and agreed the flavor was appealing, especially with the honey mustard sauce.

Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the rolls before I put them out on the big table, but I'll make more tomorrow for my own personal consumption so I'll take a photo then and upload it. Success is sweet, with or without a honey mustard sauce!

[Lynnzard]

What a great way to introduce people to the joys of eating raw, particularly smart making it relevant to their interests and the cause they were supporting. I'm looking forward to seeing the pics. I really enjoy beautiful food presentation. Congrats on a successful dish!

[goodsamaritan]

Awesome! 

[TylerDurden]

I have to admit that I am extremely uncomfortable about the notion of trying to convert people to our way of thinking re rawpalaeo. It usually doesn't work and can create resentment. That said, you did a great job, obviously, re representation of that dish. Also the Dijon mustard does create a false impression. I will admit that I myself sometimes used condiments early on (black pepper and cayenne pepper) when I went rawpalaeo, but it can backfire - what if they try raw meat without condiments, especially raw, grainfed meats?

[svrn]

nice! My cousin actually tried a couple slices of my raw beef yesterday and said she liked it.

[svrn]

I have to admit that I am extremely uncomfortable about the notion of trying to convert people to our way of thinking re rawpalaeo. It usually doesn't work and can create resentment. That said, you did a great job, obviously, re representation of that dish. Also the Dijon mustard does create a false impression. I will admit that I myself sometimes used condiments early on (black pepper and cayenne pepper) when I went rawpalaeo, but it can backfire - what if they try raw meat without condiments, especially raw, grainfed meats?

I've already gotten two people to eat raw meat regularly without much effort.

[TylerDurden]

I've already gotten two people to eat raw meat regularly without much effort.

I'm impressed. All I've usually managed is to persuade a very few of my acquaintances to eat grassfed etc. cooked-palaeo plus some sushi/sashimi.

[svrn]

To be fair these werent your average people. They were friends of mine who knew all about the new world order and the illuminati  and everything so therefore quite open minded. They looked objectively at the evidence I presented to them much more than your average person would and came to the obvious conclusion.

I have had no luck with "normal" people.

[Lynnzard]

I have to admit that I am extremely uncomfortable about the notion of trying to convert people to our way of thinking re rawpalaeo. It usually doesn't work and can create resentment. That said, you did a great job, obviously, re representation of that dish. Also the Dijon mustard does create a false impression. I will admit that I myself sometimes used condiments early on (black pepper and cayenne pepper) when I went rawpalaeo, but it can backfire - what if they try raw meat without condiments, especially raw, grainfed meats?

Setting out to convert is almost never effective. I experienced a lot around this issue when I was vegan. I found it distasteful then, and I'd find it no less unpleasant from a raw paleo side of things. I think there's a huge difference between setting oneself up as a self-appointed expert on the correct way to eat and lecturing people unsolicited and simply sharing one's food and a bit of information about it along the way. When I attended potlucks or any function where food sharing was expected and I was vegan, I always brought convenient to eat, really stellar tasting and visually appealing dishes. Without fail, I never took home leftovers, and I had some fantastic conversations with people about the food. It went a long way toward dispelling the myth that we were all a bunch of sad salad chompers going through life deprived and miserable. It often got people thinking about how they ate, why they made the food choices they did, and some came to the conclusion on their own that they had room for improvement in their diets. No conversion tactics. No strong arming. No food evangelizing. Good food speaks for itself.

What if they do buy a steak of grain-fed beef and try it raw? Chances are they're already cooking their grain-fed steaks. The worst that happens is it doesn't taste nearly as good to them as the deer sashimi did. Perhaps they start looking into what meats do taste good raw. Perhaps they give that up and don't try it again or they use a few condiments. Still, they're stepping outside of their comfort zones, thinking of things in a way they never did before, and perhaps down the line it leads to a few healthier living choices.  Or they just think of that one time they ate raw meat and liked it as a fluke, chalk it up to the skill of the guy who prepared the dish, and that's the end of it. No harm no foul.

[svrn]

I've never discussed my diet with anyone who didn't ask. I don't care what anyone thinks so I eat my raw meat anywhere in front of anyone all the time as if it were normal food. I don't want to make my life any harder than it has to be so I'll just eat a raw steak with my bare hands on the subway or in the park or walking down the street sometimes and I get some weird looks and sometimes comments. People who know me will always ask about it and sometimes it'll make sense to them and they try it.

[zaidi]

I'm impressed. All I've usually managed is to persuade a very few of my acquaintances to eat grassfed etc. cooked-palaeo plus some sushi/sashimi.

Ok, if it encourages you ....

I read about raw paleo, but never thought of beginning it.

But it were the answers of "rawpaleoguy" which completely convinced me and I started it and got introduction to this forum too.

Is it possible that your "writing power" is much more convincing & powerful one than your "talking power"?

[TylerDurden]

I guess so. I'd temporarily forgotten about that bit. I'm glad that I set it up. I only did it, way back when,  because I'd asked a volunteer on the special diets section of allexperts about raw-meat diets because I was afraid of the possibility of food-poisoning etc. at the time and wasn't sure of going ahead with a RVAF diet, and his answer was so fanatically against(he turned out to be a raw vegan) that I got very annoyed and became an "expert". Admittedly, my experience of RVAF diets, at the time, was almost nil but over a couple of years, my advice became a lot better as I steadily weeded out  all sorts of basic mistakes that  RVAFers usually make when starting a raw-meat diet.

[boxcarguy07]

That's awesome Eric! The closest I've gotten to getting someone to eat raw is getting my girlfriend to feed her dog only raw grass-fed meats. She believes wholeheartedly in it, and she now eats grass-fed beef but certainly not raw. And she still eats lots of breads/pastas/etc. I try to convince her otherwise, but maybe I've made too much of a habit of it and she now gets very touchy at the mention of her diet. Ah well.

On another note, I just started a new job at a grocery store yesterday. Today for lunch at work I ate some raw, sashimi grade tuna that I got from there. An old man that works there walked into the break room where I was eating and gave me the most disgusted look I've ever seen from another human being. Ha! I think he was very uncomfortable so he left. I just laughed to myself.