Paleo Diet: Raw Meat Appetizers

Posted on November 17, 2011 By Brian Cormack Carr Food and Health, Nutrition, Paleo Diet

Does the sound of eating raw meat appetizers on the paleo diet sound appealing to you?  It did - and does - to many so-called primitive peoples, as Sally Fallon outlines in her reknowned traditional-foods cookbook, Nourishing Traditions:

When Dr. Weston Price made his pioneering studies of primitive peoples around the world, he was struck by the fact that almost every group he visited ate a certain amount of their animal protein raw.  The proportion of raw animal protein in the diet varied considerably.   Among some Eskimo groups, it verged on 100%; natives of the Polynesian islands consumed a good portion of the sea food they caught without cooking it; African tribes valued liver in its raw state as essential to good health and optimum growth and strength.  Tribes whose eating habits were largely vegetarian nevertheless ingested raw animal protein in the form of grubs and insects.  The principal source of raw animal protein for European communities was unpasteurized meat products.

She goes on to note that the benefits of eating raw meat - not least, the ingestion of beneficial enzymes which are lost in the process of cooking - must be be balanced against the risk of ingesting intestinal parasites.  Her recommendations include:

• Freezing beef or lamb for 14 days before eating, in order to kill any parasites
• Marinate or ferment fish in an acid solution of lemon or lime juice, or whey, which will effectively kills off pathogens

Raw Meat Recipes

Here are a couple of great suggestions from the book for raw meat meals and snacks which would make fine additions to the paleo diet:

Raw Beef, Mexican Style

Mix half a pound of ground sirloin (frozen for 14 days and thawed) with half a cup of lime juice and marinate in the refrigerator for about four hours.  Mix with 1 small peeled, seeded and chopped tomato, 1 small finely-chopped onion, 4 chopped small green chillies, and some sea salt.  Refrigerate for another two hours.  Great served in lettuce-leaf ‘boats’.

Marinated Fish in Coconut Cream

Cut one pound of whitefish into half-inch cubes.  Mix one teaspoon sea salt with half a cup of lime juice and one tablespoon of whey.  Toss this mixture with the fish and marinate for at least four hours in the fridge.  Drain the liquid away.  To the marinated fish, add three quarters of a cup of coconut milk, 1 bunch of chopped scallions, and (if you like) one crushed clove of garlic and one peeled chopped tomato.  Serve on Boston lettuce leaves and garnish with sesame seeds.

So you can include raw meat appetizers in your Paleo diet rather easily. What recipe are you going to try today?

Do you eat raw meat? Do you enjoy it? What are some of the recipes you use make eating raw meat easier? Please leave your comments and suggestions below. Please Share and Like this too on Facebook and Twitter if you found this interesting and useful. Thanks for visiting!

Brian Cormack Carr is a life and career coach, charity CEO, writer, and advocate of a real foods diet.
His home on the web is www.cormackcarr.com where you will find more articles, his free Lifecrafting Newsletter, and information about his online career-creation programme www.vitalvocation.com.
You can follow Brian on Twitter: @cormackcarr

Nourishing Traditions, paleo diet, raw meat, Sally Fallon, Weston A Price