What you can do safely and what it makes sense to try, are two different things. I advise against eating any raw meat whatever without taking special precautions, generally making sure that it is fresh and freshly prepared by licensed operators, whether in a first world country or not.

Some people of course don't believe in eating meat at all, but if the implications of their arguments are taken logically, they also would forbid the eating of plants on the same ethical and physiological bases.

The problem with eating any raw meat whatsoever has little to do with the meat as such, but with the parasites or microbes that could infect you if you did eat it without heating or pickling it sufficiently to kill the worms and germs. This remains true for meat of any colour, including not only pork and chicken but beef as well. It just so happens that many of the worst infections for humans were transmitted in the flesh of pigs and rabbits, but this involves no special biological principle.

There are risks to many meats traditionally eaten raw, including the flesh of many fish for example. Remember that we and our ancestors, going back some half billion years or so, have been eating meat (raw mostly) so avidly and consistently that many thousands of species have evolved specifically to infect living meat as an adaptation to exploit the fact that the meat would be likely to be eaten raw sooner or later. Many other organisms, such as Salmonella and Shigella are likely to infect raw meat casually. This is why it is so crucially important that proper hygiene is observe in the butchering and preparation of the meat. That is one reason why I mentioned the importance of properly licensed operators. Theoretically butchers don't wear those funny hats nothing!

Cuisines of various countries include various forms of raw meat, ranging from steak tartare to smoked meats and polonies. The Japanese eat various parts of chickens as well as sushi. In South Africa we have a superior product called biltong, and the Americans have a curious substance they call "jerky", and when you taste it you know why they call it that. The Scandinavians have all sorts of fermented raw fish, but Scandinavians generally are bigger than I am, so I shall not comment on their cuisine.

;-)

Bon appetite,

Jon