The Raw Meat Devotee: Wendy Marshall’s Unusual Diet

In a society where cooking meat is the norm, Wendy Marshall stands out with an extraordinary dietary preference. The 28-year-old Florida tattoo shop owner consumes approximately two pounds of raw meat daily, from bloody steaks to ground beef straight from the package. “I love ripping the flesh straight off the bone,” Marshall proudly declares in TLC’s revived series “My Strange Addiction.” Her unconventional eating habits have earned her both fascination and disgust from those around her, including a nail technician who refused to give her a manicure after watching her eat raw ground beef pulled from her purse during an appointment. Despite the social awkwardness her diet creates, Marshall remains undeterred: “I do understand that it’s not socially acceptable to eat raw meat. People kind of gag or they look at me crazy, but I don’t care.”

While raw meat consumption might seem bizarre to many Americans, it has cultural roots worldwide. Ethiopian cuisine features raw meat dishes, as do Arctic indigenous diets. French steak tartare and Italian carpaccio are celebrated culinary traditions centered around uncooked meat. Even reality TV personality Heidi Montag has publicly consumed raw meat. However, Marshall’s approach is notably extreme, lacking the careful preparation and quality controls typically associated with these cultural dishes. Her habit of eating raw meat in various settings, including directly from store packaging, raises significant health concerns among medical professionals who warn about bacteria like salmonella, listeria, campylobacter, and E. coli, plus parasites such as trichinella that commonly inhabit uncooked animal products.

Marshall traces her unusual appetite back to childhood experiences with her grandmother, creating a poignant emotional connection to her habit. “That was actually a way for me and her to bond,” she explains, recalling how they would “talk about life and just eat the raw meat together” before her grandmother passed away from bladder cancer about five years ago. This sentimental attachment adds complexity to Marshall’s relationship with raw meat, transforming it from merely a dietary choice into a cherished connection to her past and loved ones. However, her current family situation presents challenges, as her partner Robert’s family strongly disapproves of her eating habits. At a cookout featured in the TLC series, Robert’s cousin’s wife expresses disgust, saying, “I’m about to throw up” and “It’s a little hard to accept someone who eats raw meat at the dinner table,” highlighting the social barriers Marshall’s habit creates.

The health implications of Marshall’s diet became starkly apparent when, prompted by her family’s concerns, she consulted with nurse practitioner Vanessa Cabrera. A stool sample revealed a chronic E. coli infection in Marshall’s colon, though surprisingly without causing the typical symptoms of food poisoning. “In seeing that you don’t have any symptoms, it leads me to believe that it’s been there for such a long time that your body is adapted to it,” Cabrera explained. More alarmingly, she warned that the bacteria have “probably become resistant to almost every single type of antibiotic,” creating a potentially dangerous situation where “if you were to get sick with any other type of illness coupled with that bacteria there, it would be very difficult for the antibiotics to work.” This medical reality presented Marshall with a sobering perspective on her dietary choices and their potential long-term consequences.

Faced with these health findings, Marshall promised to modify her approach without completely abandoning her preference for raw meat. “I’m not going to stop eating raw meat,” she stated, “I plan to eat grass-fed, only from a good source.” She committed to eliminating ground meat entirely from her raw consumption, acknowledging the need for these changes “for my health, to be here for my children, and for my husband and family.” Since filming the episode over the summer, Marshall has maintained her promise to avoid raw ground meat, though she admits she “can’t say that I won’t try it again in the future.” Despite the medical concerns, she remains confident in her body’s resilience, noting the absence of symptoms despite her long-term consumption pattern.

Marshall’s story, featured in the revival of “My Strange Addiction” after a ten-year hiatus, offers a fascinating glimpse into the complex interplay of personal choice, family tradition, social norms, and health risks. While medical experts continue to warn against consuming raw meat due to bacterial contamination risks, Marshall maintains an unshakeable belief in her body’s adaptation. “If anything, it’s amazing there were no symptoms of E. coli, unlike people who don’t eat raw meat, they’d be deathly ill. We are immune,” she asserts confidently. Her case represents the tension between individual dietary freedoms and established health guidelines, challenging viewers to consider where the boundaries lie between unusual personal preferences and potentially harmful behaviors. As the show airs Wednesdays on TLC, audiences will likely continue to be both repelled and captivated by Marshall’s unapologetic embrace of her raw meat lifestyle.