Dave Smith wrote:
> Dimitri wrote:
>>>
>>> Other members of the family thought this was truly awful. My view is
>>> that although if you smell it closely, it is different; but that it
>>> is basically just a bit of *oxizidation* and it does not effect the
>>> taste. Years ago they used to hang up 'game' outside for weeks.
>>
>> Then again people used to die at 30 from natural causes Including
>> parasites.
>
> Then again, a lot of people used to live very long lives. My mothers
> ashes were interred in the cemetery of one of the older local churches
> and visiting her grave I usually end up walking around looking at the
> old grave markers. There are lots of infants and young people buried
> there, but there are a surprising number of people who lived well into
> their 80s and 90s. My sister in law is quite convinced that people of
> previous generations lived longer and that the average live expectancy
> is is skewed by infant mortality, childhood diseases, mothers dying
> during childbirth, farm or industrial accidents, but that once someone
> got past childhood and reproductive years they were likely to live a
> long life.

I suspect rural rather than city churches. Plenty of "five a day" and
plenty of muck to build up a pretty good immune system in childhood.

Which is really the answer to the OP's question. If you have had a
childhood eating stuff full of bacteria and toxins, a few more of the
same aren't even going to be noticed. Even if you do get ill, it is
going to be less ill and for less time, usually.

After a couple of years of living and working in Madagascar, I can
probably cope eating anything that isn't trying to get off the table,
all by itself - as long as it is cooked at high temperature for long
enough. Salads, overseas, OTOH...


--
Sue