Halal Diet and Halal Light

 

Halal foods are foods that are allowed under Islamic dietary guidelines. The word itself means permitted or lawful in Arabic, explained Hunaiz Patel ‘12.




“The animals must be slaughtered according to Islamic law and the name of Allah (God) needs to be mentioned at the time of slaughtering the animal,” he said. “There are also other restrictions such as not eating pork or consuming anything with alcohol.”



Patel, who keeps halal, grew up in a household that only eats halal food and is happy that Union recognizes the dietary needs of their students.

“Union has made it very easy for many of us Muslims compared to other college campuses. Many of my friends on other campuses are jealous of the options we have here,” explains Patel.



“They offer halal burgers and chicken patties at Dutch and the same at Upper along with hotdogs, chicken nuggets and cold-cuts.”

Patel does “not eat any of the halal foods at Upper except for the cold-cuts because [the halal foods] are cooked in the same oils and grills as the regular meat.”



He added that, “to [him], it kind of defeats the whole purpose.”



While this may be one slight disadvantage, he finds that “the Dutch ladies are nice enough to make [his] halal burgers and chicken patties separately in the oven.”