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.
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.
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.