The rise of halal food in the age of Isl ...

The rise of halal food in the age of Islamophobia

Jun 07, 2021

It's late spring, and the sun is about to set at an alarming rate. I'm nervous During Ramadan, there is a rush of Muslims when it comes time to break our fast, which drove me to a crowd outside Bint King, a Japanese restaurant in Chinatown, DC, where we all gathered. This is because Bantam King announced on Facebook that she is only offering halal food during the holy month.

A friend entered the store and greeted me. "Hey, Aslammo Alaikum," she says. "I think everyone has come to try Halal Ramin," she remarked, pointing to the people around her.

Bantam King has turned itself into a pop-up halal shop - "Ramadan", as the promotion called it. "Halal" is mistaken for a particular type of food, but in reality it is an Arabic word. On the other hand, halal food is any type of food that adheres to the prescriptions of the Islamic diet - which is free from pork, its products, and alcohol, while meat and poultry must be processed in accordance with Islamic requirements.

Historically, finding halal food in North America has been hard work. When I was a kid in the early 2000s, my family would have to travel from one end of Toronto to the other if we wanted to eat halal steak.

That's why, in 1998, Shahid Amanullah created the online halal restaurant guide Zabiha.com, which has become an important resource for people who want to eat halal food.

Amanullah said, "At that time, I could only find 200 restaurants through friends or by searching on the internet. But finding halal food is getting easier: today, Amanullah's site has over 7000 entries. This is how I get where I eat most of the restaurants.

It's no coincidence that the halal food segment is becoming more profitable: In 2016, Bloomberg reported that sales of halal food in grocery and convenience stores in the United States reached $ 1.9 billion, up from 1.9 billion in 2012. 15% increase.

Globally, the market for halal-certified foods and beverages was estimated at 4 5,415 billion in 2015, according to the latest global Islamic economy report by Thomson Reuters. And because many Muslim countries rely on imported foodstuffs, the United States has become a major exporter of halal products.

Salah Hassan, who teaches Arab-American and Muslim-American education at Michigan State University, said, "Because the global economy is undergoing such a change, it has allowed food producers to buy halal food not only domestically but also internationally. Appeals to market on the surface. "

Bashir Mohammed, a senior Pew researcher, says the number of American Muslims is growing steadily from a relatively small base. "Now we understand that 1% of the American population is Muslim." "And as the number of Muslims increases, interest in Muslim-specific products will probably exceed the net number."

Source: Halal Restaurants Promotional Items

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