In another installment of things I deeply wish I could eradicate from my brain, internet users are apparently eating raw slabs of red meat to get high, and encouraging others to join them in this experience.
As reported by The Takeout and IFL Science, people are consuming meat that has been decomposing for months or even years with, like, literal bacteria growing on them, claiming the practice, which is being dubbed “high meat,” produces a euphoric sensation. One Twitter user tweeted in early April, “A friend convinced me to eat raw rotten meat (high meat) yesterday and it actually felt great. Very interesting since everyone would think it’s crazy,” along with a photo of their putrid, bubbling, unsightly meat. Another practitioner filmed himself in 2017 eating a jar of raw meat he claims was a year old, which if you for some ungodly reason choose to, can watch here.
As explained by IFL Science, it’s unclear if the “high” these rotten meat-eaters are experiencing is due to an unknown mechanism, placebo effect, or dehydration and delirium due to a terrible gastric episode catalyzed by, I don’t know, feeding your stomach decaying meat. And some aren’t even doing it for the supposed meat high: other partakers say they like the taste, describing it as more cheesy and acidic than your run-of-the-mill-medium rare steak.
Of course, eating uncooked meat is not new or even always harmful. There are tons of dishes (like steak tartare and carpaccio) that use raw meat, while jerky and cured meats are created by leaving meat out to dry. As noted by IFL Science, there’s even an Icelandic delicacy called Hákarl that ferments Greenland shark for months, and sometimes it’s left out on the ground. Except intentionally eating spoiled meats is not the same as fermentation, a controlled process that grows microorganisms with the meat. Rotting meat can expose your body to a bunch of harmful microbial life that can lead to foodborne illnesses like salmonella and E.coli, nausea and even death.
So if you’re craving some meat that tastes like cheese, maybe eat a cheesesteak. And if you’re looking to get high, there’s this new thing all the kids are doing called weed. Look it up.
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