Here is what some Polish people eat---Raw meat !!!!!
Not only Polish people. Fine restaurants all over the world serve Beef Tartare. You can easily make it at home though. We also eat raw fish and we call it sushi :)
Steak tartare is now regarded as a gourmet dish. It is especially popular in Belgium, the Netherlands, Northern Germany, France, Poland, Hungary, Switzerland, Slovenia, Czech Republic and Slovakia.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steak_tartare
RE the herring, what you can buy in the States in jars is not suitable for this kind of dish, unless you can find it not in wine sauce. If you ask the guy in your local supermarket in the fish section, he might be willing to stock packaged herring. I have done that and had good luck. I think you can forget getting salted herring from a barrel. In PL, I buy packged or from a barrel, which you have to soak a few hours.
I suggest making it with olive oil and onion first and then experiment to your taste. As a rule, it is not good to put too much crap together. Less is more.