High Meat

Aajonus first encountered the practice of eating fermented, highly decomposed meat among indigenous peoples and described one vivid experience attending a gathering where children ran excitedly toward the smell of meat that was so overwhelming it gave him a headache and made him want to vomit. He could not get within five feet of it. The children, having eaten it from birth, were unaffected and excited. He described the experience as bizarre and noted that the indigenous group only performed the practice once a year in summertime, in preparation for fall. In order to eat it himself, he had to stuff cotton balls soaked in musk oil into his nostrils to block the smell.

He also noted that the Ripley's Believe It or Not television program filmed him eating high meat, first airing internationally on July 17, 2002. A German company later flew to the United States to reshoot it for their own program. On both occasions, the camera operators became nauseated from the smell and he had to provide them with cotton balls soaked in clove oil to prevent vomiting. Despite the reaction of those around him, he described eating the high meat without difficulty once his nose was blocked.

Aajonus's explanation for why high meat produces psychological benefits rests on the same principle he used to explain why raw meat in general supports mental health. Psychological problems, in his framework, are almost always protein deficiencies. When the body cannot assimilate cooked meat properly, or when the E. coli in the intestines is not sufficiently active to break protein into the finite amino acid molecules the brain and nervous system require, the result is depression, anxiety, irritability, and a range of other neurological and psychological conditions.

Raw meat addresses this problem partially. But if a person is eating raw meat and still not improving enough psychologically, Aajonus said it means the E. coli is not adequately digesting the protein into the molecular forms the brain requires, and the body is also not synthesizing B vitamins properly. High meat addresses this gap by delivering the finished product: protein that has already been broken down by bacterial action into the precise molecular forms that feed the brain and nervous system directly.

He also addressed the question of ammonia, which is abundant in high meat. He acknowledged that high meat contains large amounts of ammonia but said that when ammonia is consumed in the context of high meat, it does not penetrate the nervous system. By contrast, if ammonia is added artificially to a product and consumed in that form, it will enter the nervous system and cause harm. The distinction is the natural matrix in which the ammonia exists within the high meat.

The foundational high meat preparation Aajonus described involves taking one volume-pint of raw meat, chopped into bite-sized pieces, and placing it into a glass quart jar (32 ounces), such that the meat occupies half the jar and the other half is empty air space. The ratio of air space to meat space is equal, meaning half the jar is meat and half the jar is air. He specified a Ball jar with a lid placed on tightly, then set in the refrigerator.

He recommended preparing three separate jars simultaneously: one with raw red meat, one with natural raw fowl, and one with ocean wild-caught raw fish. He did not specify that they must be kept separate for any microbiological reason. When asked whether sterilizing the jars made a difference and whether different meat tissues should be rotted separately, he said he had used sterile jars when he first began testing and found it made no difference at all.

Every three to four days, the jars are taken outdoors, the lids are completely removed, and the jars are waved in the air to exchange the gases inside with fresh outdoor air. This step is essential. The bacteria responsible for decomposing the meat are aerobic, meaning they require oxygen. If the jars are never opened, the bacteria consume the available oxygen, and once it is gone, the decomposition stops and the meat essentially preserves itself. Aajonus stated he had once kept a jar of raw meat sealed for a year in the refrigerator without ever opening it, and the meat was still in good condition when he ate it a year later with no ill effect. The meat does not decompose unless it is regularly aired.

This airing process must continue over weeks and months until the meat reaches a sufficiently fermented, pungent state. The goal, as Aajonus described it, is to get it "really stinky and nasty" before eating it. The texture of properly fermented high meat is described as similar to meat braised in brandy, slightly softened and somewhat altered in character from fresh raw meat.

Aajonus described an alternative preparation method in which the high meat is kept outside the refrigerator at room temperature rather than in the refrigerator. He said that at room temperature, the fermentation process works much faster and the resulting product is somewhat more potent. However, because the process moves faster, the meat requires airing more frequently: every two days rather than every three to four days.

He did not elaborate on specific protocols for outdoor or warm-climate preparation beyond these two points. His overall preference, judging from context, appears to be the refrigerator method for its slower, more manageable pace, but he presented the room-temperature method as a legitimate and valid alternative.

Aajonus mentioned that if cow fecal matter is available, a small amount can be placed in or around the meat when beginning the fermentation. The fecal bacteria will begin consuming the meat immediately and accelerate the colonization process. He referenced one instance in which a husband's fecal matter was used to inoculate the high meat. This is presented as an optional step to introduce the bacterial population rather than a required part of the protocol, and the meat will ferment without it given adequate air exchange over time.

Aajonus was specific about how high meat should be consumed in relation to other foods. High meat must be eaten 15 minutes before a regular meat meal. It should not be consumed with milk or kefir, because the lactic acid in dairy will destroy the bacteria, which are the primary therapeutic component of the high meat. When someone needs to wash down the high meat because of difficulty tolerating the smell or taste, water is the appropriate vehicle, not milk.

The amount typically eaten is approximately one ounce. One ounce eaten in this way reliably relieves depression within 10 to 20 minutes, and the effect may last anywhere from six hours to 24 hours to a week or more, depending on the individual's condition and the degree of protein deficiency in their system. Some people eat high meat every day. Aajonus described one client who felt so happy on high meat that he consumed a full cup each day.

He also noted that people with cancer benefit from eating high meat, and that high raw chicken specifically is more favorable for those suffering from intestinal, neurological, or lymphatic cancer.

Of approximately 600 people Aajonus reported having guided to eat high meat, only one said he experienced no effect one way or the other, and Aajonus indicated that person may not have been a reliable reporter. In all other cases, those who were depressed reported becoming happy within 10 to 20 minutes of eating the high meat.

He described no cases of diarrhea or vomiting resulting from high meat consumption, in contrast to cooked meat, which produces some form of adverse reaction in approximately 12 percent of people who eat it. He attributed cooked meat reactions primarily to the hormones, antibiotics, and compounded chemical residues in the meat, which are released in greater concentrations when the meat is heated. Raw high meat, by contrast, he said never produces these reactions.

He also described a situation in which he essentially delivered an ultimatum to a client who was calling him multiple times daily in a state of depression and anxiety, refusing to try high meat. He told the client that if they would not try the high meat at least once, he could no longer work with them. The client called back two hours later and agreed. Aajonus then gave them specific instructions: cut the meat into small pieces or grind it, put it in a jar with half the space as air, and begin the fermentation process either inside or outside the refrigerator.

Aajonus was candid about the intensity of the smell. He described coyotes as the only animals he had seen fight each other, and the only thing they fought over was high meat. With regular meat, coyotes share easily, yielding to the weakest among them, but high meat caused them to growl and become aggressive with each other. He had clients who produced more high meat than they could use and gave the excess to coyotes.

For human consumption, the smell is the primary obstacle. He used cotton balls with musk oil at the indigenous gathering to be able to eat it. For the camera operators on Ripley's Believe It or Not and the German television program, he used cotton balls with clove oil. For clients who cannot tolerate the smell and find themselves gagging, he recommended plugging the nose entirely while eating it.

The texture, he noted, is not unpleasant. Because the meat is partially fermented, its consistency resembles meat braised in brandy, somewhat softened and altered in character but not objectionable in texture. It is primarily the smell that presents difficulty for people unfamiliar with fermented meat.

Aajonus consistently linked high meat to the brain and nervous system rather than to general digestive health or immune function. The reason the predigested protein feeds the brain and nervous system specifically is that the molecules have been reduced to a size small enough to pass directly into those tissues within approximately 20 minutes of eating. He described this as similar to what happens in the intestines when E. coli are active and healthy, synthesizing B vitamins and breaking protein into the finite molecular forms the brain requires. High meat simply delivers that end product externally, ready for immediate absorption.

He said that when someone eats high meat, they can absorb the nutrients that feed the brain and nervous system as if the digestion had already taken place in the intestines. People become giddy and experience an elevated state as a result. This effect he called drug-like in terms of its immediacy, though he was clear that he investigated and confirmed it was not caused by ammonia entering the nervous system, which he had initially considered as a possibility. Biochemical analysis confirmed the ammonia in high meat does not cross into the nervous system when the meat is consumed in its high meat form.

Aajonus described high meat as appropriate for ongoing use, not as a one-time remedy. It appears in his index under "for removing degenerative tissue" and under "in Eskimo diet," indicating he regarded it as a traditional practice with well-established long-term application. People with cancer, as noted above, are particularly directed toward high meat, with the specific variant of high chicken recommended for intestinal, neurological, and lymphatic cancers.

He described the practice of eating high meat "as often as every day" as appropriate for those who feel it benefits them, and cited the client consuming a full cup daily as an example of someone who experienced sustained positive effects from this frequency.

Aajonus was careful to distinguish high meat from the notion that eating it primarily introduces bacteria into the body. The distinction matters because if the benefit were simply bacterial inoculation, the bacteria would be destroyed by lactic acid in dairy and the timing relative to other foods would be irrelevant. Instead, the benefit is the predigested protein the bacteria have already produced. The bacteria themselves are a vehicle for arriving at that predigested state. Once the meat is sufficiently fermented, what the person eats is not primarily living bacteria but the molecular products of bacterial action on the protein.

This is also why he recommended washing high meat down with water rather than milk: the lactic acid in milk would destroy the remaining bacteria in the high meat before they could complete whatever digestion was still ongoing in the gut, potentially diminishing the effect. Water carries no such interference.