Is eating raw carrots so strange?

How interesting this thread has become, with many good points of view on why the Japanese don't eat many raw vegetables!

Personally, I try to eat as many as possible, especially salad veggies. Cooking reduces the quantities of valuable enzymes/minerals/vitamins in them quite dramatically it's been shown. Of course, though, cooked are delicious too! Yum indeed - I lap them all up!!

All this talk of the Japanese 'preparing' vegetables has made me think...don't they eat things like celery (I can't remember)? Obviously that can't be peeled, along with other items like mushrooms. I know that mushrooms are washed over there (of course), but why are they not not peeled like other veggies that are cooked? Is it because they were traditionally collected from the forests and other wild places, rather than farmed using night soil like other crops?

Anohito makes a good point about the wax on apples, and other chemicals applied to fruit and veg which might be best avoided. As the skin is usually highest in terms of nutrients, though, I try whenever I can to buy organic and natural, and make a point of eating it. I think this is going to be a
big challenge for me if and when I finally move back to Japan, though :gohan:

One thing especially I remember is that in Japan my friends and (almost) family peeled their grapes. This could have been due to the chemicals, the 'genetic memory' of night soil, or (as I was told rather often) the bitter taste...but grape skins contain very valuable anti-cancer compounds (especially the red or purple ones)!!

Sukotto said:

ever hear of a cannibal sandwich?
it's basically a raw hamburger.
uncooked ground beef on bread.
gross, says i. but, to each their own.

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This has to be a joke lol

When raw beef's exposed to the air it oxidises, and very harmful bacteria are formed, potentially extremely dangerous. A very rare steak is fine, because the outside is cooked, even if the inside (that hasn't been exposed to oxygen) is raw. Hamburger meat, though, is minced and so the bacteria run right through a burger. It should always be cooked well right through and never more than a very slight pink inside.

Ignore at your peril folks!!

Actually "cannibal sandwiches" as we call them here in my area of Wisconsin are at every wedding and big party. It's raw chopped beef on rye bread with a slice of onion. My family adores this food! I can't stand to even look at it. It's like going up to a cow and taking a bite. Then again my family wouldn't eat raw fish. My mother would tell you that eating raw fish will give you liver flukes (a type of parasitic worm), yet she will eat raw beef and risk e-coli etc. It's interesting to think of what "food" really is to people.

Goldiegirl said:

Actually "cannibal sandwiches" as we call them here in my area of Wisconsin are at every wedding and big party. It's raw chopped beef on rye bread with a slice of onion.

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EEK!! My apologies to the original poster of the 'cannibal sandwich' then - I really didn't think it was possible - all I can say is that I surely hope (and pray?!) that it's extremely freshly chopped!!

Goldiegirl said:

My mother would tell you that eating raw fish will give you liver flukes (a type of parasitic worm), yet she will eat raw beef and risk e-coli etc. It's interesting to think of what "food" really is to people.

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Raw fish alone, especially if not very fresh, quite probably would. As far as I know though, that's what the Wasabi deals with. The isothiocyanates it contains counteract the microbes in the fish, as long as it's very fresh indeed, rendering the dish very healthy overall.

Any fish though that you're not certain is perfectly fresh is definitely best avoided - you won't catch me eating at any but the most expensive sushi or sashimi place, and absolutely never at the cheaper spots!!

made of fish

I love to eat a raw, peeled carrot from time to time, all those haelthy vitamins can vanish when boiled in water.
Have got some in bottom of fridge most weeks, just in case me or our daughter fancies eating one.
Also I find steaming vegetables is alot better than boiling them, the texture is better.

Goldiegirl said:

I will have to try a potato, but do you need to add salt or sugar, some kind of dip?

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No Goldiegirl, just peel it, wash it, cut it if you like and eat! Hope you enjoy it! Let us know your thoughts after tasting your first raw potato.

I have a bag of Yukon Golds, they are a yellow potato. I'll give it a try!

Goldiegirl said:

I have a bag of Yukon Golds, they are a yellow potato. I'll give it a try!

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To my taste buds, potatoes are basically a starchier version of jicama, with no sweet overtones. I don't even care much for jicama (different strokes for different folks). I did like the Filipino version, though (singkomas?).

Goldiegirl said:

Actually "cannibal sandwiches" as we call them here in my area of Wisconsin are at every wedding and big party. It's raw chopped beef on rye bread with a slice of onion.

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Thank you "Goldiegirl" for collaborating my story.
and to "made of stone" no appoligies needed.
It does sound like one of those unbelievable stories.
When I first heard of it...? wah?!
Raw? Gross. When my parents would sometimes get steak, I would
always get mine medium-well. (Now I hardly ever eat beef.)

Thanks for understanding my reaction, Sukotto!

I was surprised at the time by the 'cannibal sandwich' story, but now i've thought about it a little more, I do recall that raw beef, horse and whale can be eaten in Japan...

Has anyone here eaten chicken sashimi (raw chicken)??

I may be wrong, but I believe that, like a very rare steak, the outside of the meat is cooked, but the inside remains perfectly raw.

made of stone said:

Has anyone here eaten chicken sashimi (raw chicken)??

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mos I would never eat raw chicken or that matter meat of any kind, mainly due to being taught in catering college of the bacteria and such like that are present in raw meat.
However, I have eaten rare aberdeen angus steaks, and it tasted lovely.

EmperorHirohito said:

mos I would never eat raw chicken or that matter meat of any kind, mainly due to being taught in catering college of the bacteria and such like that are present in raw meat.

However, I have eaten rare aberdeen angus steaks, and it tasted lovely.

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Lol, but isn't that the point EH - that if you cook the outside, a la both your lovely rare steak and the chicken sashimi, as I understand it, (thus killing the bacteria), the inside is 'safe' to eat?

I'm afraid we've gone rather off topic here - it's meant to be about raw carrots!

Perhaps someone could split these threads in two, or maybe we should start a new one about raw meat specifically??

Anyway, i'm becoming fascinated by both these undercooked subjects (both veggies and animals) and hope to read more comments and personal experiences!!

made of a strong constitution

Yes we are going slightly Off Topic mos, must admit slightly cooked steak is lovely, but would never eat slightly cooked pork, due to tape worm that lives in pork.

Right Im off to peel and eat a raw carrot, back on topic, lol

lol, right you are, but this raw meat stuff is fascinating too!

I hope the OP can accept it here, or that it can be put in a new thread (or perhaps one already exists?)

made of stone wanders off to peel a chicken, oops! I mean a carrot too!!

Would that be Chicken Kiev by any chance mos?

I agree with ewok, i don't think it's so much that the carrot was uncooked, but unprepared, it probably seems primitive (for lack of a polite word, sorry), i however used to munch on raw carrots fiercely, but my teeth are in poor health these days and doing so would be painful now, but i like to shred them and some times combine them with thinly sliced onions and add some vinegar... oops, i'm rambling again....

You know, it might be a seasonal thing. Now that summer is here, I've seen veggie sticks including carrots, cucumbers, celery, and daikon with assorted dips (even a miso dip) at a couple of izakayas. I even saw a cup of veggie sticks including carrots at the local 7-11 convenience store.

I like jimaca.

I eat raw baby carrots peeled all the time. With a little ceaser dressing on the side. Raw potatoes I would be very shocked to see it being eaten. So I guess thats how the Japanese think of it.

I used to peel my grapes but I stoped because it was too time consuming it took me over a year though to get used to eating them. I used to peel apples but now I just cut them in half and eat them but never the skin.

i love raw potato's sometimes i do buy a little wasabi for a little dip if i want a little zang, raw carrots yummmm I've had a cannibal sandwich...and it was quite good....some people to sit it in a oven for a few minutes or so just to make it warm, well I do

and some japanese customs are weird lol...I used to love walking up the street eating sushi in england..i bet oyu cant do that there...?

I make vegetables TUKEMONO (a pickle) and eat.
When I make it NUKAZUKE (seasoning vegetables in salted rice-bran paste) and eat, nutritive substance doubles.