Many may or may not know this, but the food at Chase is not Halal as in it is not suitable for Muslim students to eat the food especially if pork based food can get handled between other foods and containers.
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| Halal Food. Source: http://www.eat-halal.com/ |
In pertaining to Halal food, the meat has to be prayed upon by a certain sura (prayer in Arabic) before slaughter. However that is not the case for Halal food is hard to get into Chase; and with the fact that Muslims can't touch anything that contain pork i.e anything gelatin based or things that touch pork or non halal food it gets hard for some Muslims to eat at Chase or Emerson.
Chase being the Main food source for many first years and upperclassmen other options are limited for Muslim students and so this lead to most Muslims going veterinarian while at Wheaton even though they came from meat eating families because they don't want it to be haram (closest translation is "sin" in Arabic) So what is it there for Muslim students to do? Because with talking with many of them, the upperclassmen have had appointments talking with Bragle and some have already started talking with the new person in charge who took Bragle's position. So many have given up on the hopes of getting Halal food.
Here are some alternatives that I thought can help:
1. Switch many pork based products with meat alternatives like chicken, turkey, beef. Like bacon can always be Turkey as chase since it is healthier and people don't seem to notice the difference.
2. Maybe, just like the gluten free section get a halal section with no pork affiliation.
3. WE, the student body all make appointments to talk about food restriction that affect your friends. So it doesn't seem a small minority cares.
Did you mean "vegetarian"? I think that your suggestions are good. The new food manager, O'Rouke seems open to creative solutions
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting topic and definitely good suggestions. Reading this made me think of Jewish students who may keep kosher and how they may be experiencing similar struggles. I don't keep kosher myself but I know that if I did it would often be difficult to find consistent food for me to eat and I might also choose a vegetarian path
ReplyDeleteThis is so important as religion and food intersects in peoples' everyday lives.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Professor Kerner that suggestions are good for change to happen with O'Rourke. I have found that having a few students email about the same concern around the same time helps to show initiative of really wanting the change considered. I have had issues even though it's not particularly religiously affiliated but in the G.F section of Chase it's usually pork and that is hard for people who can't or do not want to eat the same thing every day.