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We went to Long Horn Steakhouse last night, and the memory is still fresh (darn
it, when I say "rare," I mean "rare," not "medium rare and warm/pink on the
inside." I think next time I'll ask for steak tartar!)
Drinking animal blood can be a way to tide yourself over until your next fix
from a human donor. There is a risk of getting salmonella, botulism, or e coli.
It occurred to me yesterday, however, that this is perhaps not something to
be feared with absolute paranoia. Believe it or not, most of us ingest small
amounts of food poisoning every time we eat meat from a restaurant or similar
vendor, probably even when we prepare it ourselves. What makes us sick is not
the exposure to germs per se - it's the fact that we've ingested more of the
bacteria than we are used to. Denizens of third world countries have cast iron
stomachs because they are used to the levels of bacteria that they ingest, whereas
we poor Westerners are nearly hospitalized if we don't peel our fruit and survive
on bottled or boiled water.
If you want to survive on animal blood, try drinking it on a regular basis,
starting with SMALL amounts (like eating your meat rare instead of well cooked,
eating your eggs over easy instead of scrambled, etc.) and SLOWLY increasing
your exposure. This will also have the virtue of getting your stomach used to
digesting blood. Do not buy any of the antibacterial hand soaps or wipes that
the market currently hawks - first, you will reduce your natural immunity to
bacteria; second, the bacteria that do survive after adapting to antibacterial
soap are strong and nasty and you don't want to encourage them. Don't do anything
stupid like eating raw chicken without washing it off, or leaving mayonnaise
out for 24 hours before putting it back in the fridge, but don't be ultra paranoid
about bacteria either.
Yes, you will at some time (if you keep this up) encounter poisoned food. Raw
meat is nearly always contaminated; that's the nature of the beast, so to speak.
You will get royally sick if you ingest too much bacteria. If this happens,
get medical treatment, be very careful about starting back onto a diet that
includes frequent consumption of rare or raw steak, but don't let it frighten
you off. That which does not kill you makes you stronger. Use common sense and
don't go overboard by either overcooking everything and going crazy with the
Lysol (which is what Westerners currently do) or by ignoring health risks and
drinking a cup of animal blood every day without knowing where it even came
from. I also recommend getting your meat from a small family butcher rather
than from a supermarket, it's less likely to be factory farmed and mass slaughtered.
Factory farmed meat is full of synthetic hormones and stuff that you probably
don't want to expose yourself to if you can help it.
Avoid raw pork. It carries trichinosis. Raw poultry is also far more likely
to have high amounts of salmonella than other meats. (It also isn't as satisfying,
in my opinion, and it tastes yucky undercooked. And it crunches when you try
to eat it. Eeeeeew.) Stick to beef, game, and other red meats if you are going
to do the rare meat thing.
~Sarah Dorrance (C) 1999
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