I’ve probably had raw everything at one point or another. But I was surprised to find a sliced raw beef dish alongside everything else here in a Korean buffet, and I thought it was for cooked bibimbap, but nope. I saw a couple guys grab scoops of it, dip it in sauce and eat it so I did too. And it was quite good!
Food poisoning definitely sticks in the mind, it can be scary, and I completely agree that our perception of something is often more powerful than the thing itself. Raw meat often sits out in Asian markets, but once it begins to smell or look rancid, it goes. In the US, on the other hand, I can’t count the number of times I’ve opened an “unexpired” package of meat I had to return because it’s spoiled.
Water’s a big factor too: The Clean Water and Air Acts helped for a long time in a lot of the US. You can have street food in plenty of countries, no problem, but if you get unlucky with a glass of tap water, game over. Course, now that the US EPA can’t enforce either Act anymore and Congress is dismantling them, I don’t know what the US situation will be like by the end of Trump’s second term.