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Comment by dudus | Hacker News Reader

Because in eastern Europe it's probably more dangerous to eat rare meat due to more lax regulations.

There's a reason restaurants add an asterisk after meat dishes. There's risk involved in consuming rare foods. The risk is just very small in the US and Europe. Not so small in other countries.

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Actually the regulations here are extremely strict, so much that the restaurants are complaining all the time (stricter than in many Western countries if what they say is true). And having eaten raw meat (tartar steak) many times didn't cause any health problems.

I don’t think this is true at all. I’ve been to dozens of countries all over the world and in each one you will find dirty kitchens as well as clean ones. You should visit Eastern Europe some time. It’s not just a stereotype.

Born and living my whole life in Romania, I can tell you that this fear is pretty true. Many people, especially from the older generations, don't trust medium or under steaks.

I should say those that it's not so much a question of the cleanliness of the kitchen, but of the confidence in quality control of the meat. Parasites and tainted meat are a lot more common than in more wealthy countries.

Ok so meat controls are bad in Romania. Romania is in Eastern Europe, but so are Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic. I would have no qualms at all eating rare meat in either of those countries.

I just think stereotyping “Eastern Europe” as some mid-20th century agrarian backwater is very counterproductive to good discussion.

I would suggest some of those countries are more properly part of Central Europe, and at least in Czechia and Hungary steak tartare is a pretty traditional dish.

Prague is further west than Vienna.

It is! Still it’s part of Eastern Europe, by some definitions. See the Wikipedia page for Eastern Europe. All in all it’s a useless moniker these days for most purposes.

Only in the context of the former USSR are those states considered "eastern". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Europe#/media/File:Gro...

There are two maps on the same Wikipedia page that put the three mentioned countries in Eastern Europe.

It’s still a useless term.

Hungary and Czechia are typically considered central European though

Kitchens is one, but there's supply issues. My experience is that quality often is indeed lower (so is the price). I'm sure it plays with safety too.

Also lot of people (rightfully) don't trust the supermarkets - my friends were shocked I just buy raw fish in supermarket - no need to find a personal fisherman!

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