I probably phrased this poorly or something, but I am curious. Even though we have fire, people still eat steak tartare. Loads of animals eat raw birds without suffering any negative effects. How come people are so against eating raw birds (when raised in a way that makes salmonella very unlikely)?
People eat raw flour and eggs all the time and those also have a good chance of giving you salmonella. Hell touching a turtle can give you salmonella but people still touch turtles.
It's not really that common to eat steak tartare is it? Bit of a niche thing, I certainly wouldn't prepare it myself at home.
Saying "other animals do X so we should be fine doing X" is a daft argument, they have different biochemistry and they don't kill stuff and leave it in the fridge for a couple of weeks before eating it.
I don't know if you've ever had bad food poisoning before, but let me tell you it is 100% not worth it.
I don't think comparing humans to other animals is that daft, otherwise animal testing wouldn't be as common as it is. And I don't think most people leave steak tartare or ceviche or sashimi or carpaccio etc. in their fridge for weeks before eating it.
And I was originally asking why someone would be against raw chicken that had been raised in a way that prevented salmonella being likely at all.
I really just don't understand the innate opposition? Humans and other animals eat fresh raw meat all the time, why not birds?
I think we're talking about slightly different things.
What I'm saying is that there's a practical reason why people don't eat raw chicken, to do with the risk to their health.
In my experience people don't make steak tartare at home AT ALL because of the risk of food poisoning, let alone eating raw chicken. We eat cooked meat often because it's easy to store it and prepare it safely. Raising chickens in a more sanitary way is obviously better regardless of whether you're then going to eat the meat raw or not, but I don't think it would be enough on its own to make raw chicken safe enough for people to eat safely, you'd also have to change the supply chain and maybe train chefs preparing the food to keep it safe.
As things stand I'm not completely opposed to eating raw chicken and might try it in a controlled setting but I'd never eat it at home.
Interesting related side note: after the UK left the EU there was a big debate about whether we would accept chlorine washed chicken imported from the US (answer: hell no). Food poisoning from chicken is way more common in the US than here due to different animal welfare and food preparation standards, but that doesn't mean I'm cool with routinely eating raw chicken in the UK.
I very much understand the food safety concerns. You, apparently accidentally, answered my question when you said you wouldn't be opposed to trying it under a controlled setting. Thanks. Literally all I was asking about.
Eating wild meat is a gamble. Pretty sure that's why we mostly stick to eating herbivores. That's also why wild caught fish must be frozen, to kill any parasites they may have.
Things get cooked for a variety of reasons. Avoiding sickness is one, but I think most of us agree that cooked food tastes better. Even if I wouldn't get sick from eating raw food is still cook it.
I mean, I love a good medium rare steak, but if I caught something in the wild, that bitch is getting near burned...
It's mostly about sanitation. Animals aren't magically fine when they eat other animals. No one notices when a bear dies of a parasite unless it's someone's pet.
Cooked food is also easier to digest and get energy out of.
Because raw birds also have those diseases? What the fuck kind of question is that? Do you think birds are magically special and different? Salmonella is not a fun bacteria to wrestle. No one wants to risk at best a highly upset stomach or worst shitting your brains out until you need IVF or die.
The risk is high and the reward is you get to eat nasty raw chicken. That's not a risk assessment many smart people take chicken up on.
I don't think birds are magically different, it's everyone else who seems to. My question has consistently been why people (in general) are ok with eating some types of meat raw, but not birds.
Specifically I was asking one person who said that even if the chicken was raised and prepared in a hygienic manner that they wouldn't.
The answer to that question is: People aren't as educated about the dangers from other meat. They aren't as obvious or single-minded as salmonella on chicken, so idiot normies forget the risks and think it's OK because worms and other diseases aren't as obviously bad as a direct gamble with death.
TL;DR, the risks are less obvious and often less severe, and normies think "less" means, "ok", because they're dumb.
That's the thing though, even if it's supposedly fine, it's still way more risky than other types of meat and Salmonella is no joke, my girlfriend's ex nearly died of it.
Salmonella (from raw chicken or somewhere else) accounts for way less deaths per year than red meat (cooked or otherwise) I think this is just one of those things people 'feel' weird about rather than have any rational explanation for.
Because it tastes like shit and has bad texture. I've eaten undercooked chichen before. I tossed it because it was horrible, not because of risk of sickness.
Well, mainly carnivorous animals tend to eat raw meat.
Humans evolved from herbivores and our intestinal tract is still not suited for killing parasites and harmful bacteria present in animal bodies, which is why we delegated part of our digestion to process organic material outside of the body (cooking). Whereas carnivores have high saliva and stomach acidity to digest raw meat, on top of a short and smooth intestine tract for a quick pass through so there's less chance of parasites staying around.
We have none of those carnivorous features, and therefore eating any raw meat is a substantial risk, especially animal bodies with a high likelihood of salmonella contamination. Even when meat is cooked it seems to have negative effects on our long term health, such as increased chance of cardiovascular disease and digestion related cancers.
I'm vegan btw so I'm right there with you. I'm just curious about why people seem to like some raw meat but not others, even if there was little chance of salmonella. Everyone just kept telling me that you'd get salmonella for some reason.
Why not? What's different about chicken meat compared to, say, beef or lamb, which most people like to cook so it remains at least a little bit pink (i.e. raw inside).
Even in Japan, where you can eat chicken sashimi, it's a problem and the government doesn't recommend eating it. The way chicken is processed is to blame: https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/s/bgFqlOuNIc
I've eaten it. I don't care for the texture. Never made me sick. I've had chicken with just the outside seared a few times here and been fine, but never order it.