Penny, I agree with you. What entity or belief is giving gold stars for any 'purity'? We are designed to eat both raw and cooked foods.
I need to cook my vegetables because my teeth are too poor to chew them enough. Fermenting plant foods allows them to be eaten raw more often and in delicious, softer forms.
I enjoy many meats raw because freezing them 2 weeks at 0' or -10' effectively kills all stages of most parasites. Fermenting makes many meats softer, delicious and safe to eat. The Inupiat (eskimo) food technology has raw meat consumption beautifully refined. They have survived where fuel is scarce with often only meats and fats to eat, and temperatures sometimes down to -60'. Eating raw, frozen, (usually aged a bit or a lot), fish and most all meats remains a time-honored fast food still relished today across the arctic.
The recipe goes like this: take meat from freezer, shave off pieces, dip each in oil (or eat with some fat), may add salt, other seasonings, raw vegetables, garlic, etc. Eat until full. Put part you didn't eat back in freezer, wipe knife, cutting board, oil dish, hands clean. This is the fastest, most nutritional food you could find, ranking along with eating a banana or apple.
