Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To serve these foods to muslim friends

603 replies

MissMildred · 04/08/2018 19:03

Hi - posting here for traffic but also because I don't want to BU. I invited some new school friends and their parents for a bbq in a couple of weeks and two of the families are muslim and mentioned they only eat halal.
I want to make an effort to make them feel comfortable, and it has also been very interesting learning all about what is halal or haram. Obviously no pork will be served. However, some of the guidance on the internet is not clear, so I wondered if anyone with this diet could help me with these items and whether it would BU to serve them up:

Vinegar - if I served this in eg. a coleslaw, are all types of vinegar fine? (Eg is the vinegar not seen as alcohol anymore?)
Butter - Am I overthinking this? Would you eat butter?
Alcohol - I know you wouldn't drink this, but is it acceptable for others in the group to be drinking a glass of wine?
Halloumi - I can't figure out if this is okay or not.

Also - any tips you might have would be great, especially if there are brands of crisps, bread, butter etc....you might use.

Thank you!

OP posts:
rainbowsandsmiles · 05/08/2018 14:04

I don't want to eat halal meat just as muslims don't want to eat non halal meat

But WHY though? Genuinely not being argumentative, just trying to understand!
Is it because you are very religious yourself? If so, fair enough.
If you're not though, why does it matter?

YeTalkShiteHen · 05/08/2018 14:04

And why on earth does only one group get to decide what is and is not material in the preparation of their food?

Freedom to practice your faith is protected in law. So that would include Sikhs and anyone else who couldn’t eat halal meat on a religious basis.

People who just don’t like Muslims aren’t protected in law. Therein lies the difference.

DiegoMadonna · 05/08/2018 14:04

People who are worried about the humaneness, 90% of halal meat is slaughtered in much the same way as non-halal meat. If you're truly concerned about that other 10%, then perhaps try lobbying for the UK government to completely ban non-stunned slaughter, as some other European countries have done in recent years.

SavvySaver24 · 05/08/2018 14:05

*“DiegoMadonna because it isn't my religion and I don't agree with it.”

How does it affect you?*

How does it affect muslims eating non halal? How does it affect ANYONE from a religion coming across ANYTHING their religion supposedly forbids them from doing? It doesn't physically affect them in anyway but it is their belief system. So by the same principal I can disagree wiith eating halal meat!

YeTalkShiteHen · 05/08/2018 14:05

All slaughterhouses in the UK must comply with animal welfare laws. The RSPCA and I’m guessing SSPCA oversees them.

YeTalkShiteHen · 05/08/2018 14:06

But why though Savvy? You’re adamant, but you won’t say why?

commonarewe · 05/08/2018 14:07

So you are saying Sikhs must be racist then. Wow.

rainbowsandsmiles · 05/08/2018 14:07

How does it affect muslims eating non halal? How does it affect ANYONE from a religion coming across ANYTHING their religion supposedly forbids them from doing? It doesn't physically affect them in anyway but it is their belief system. So by the same principal I can disagree wiith eating halal meat!

OK, but if I disagreed with it that much I'd just have the vegetarian option or bring my own meat. That way everybody's happy and can eat.

SavvySaver24 · 05/08/2018 14:08

I have said why, it isn't MY religion as i have said plenty of times, you are clearly just choosing to ignore it. I don't want a religion I don't agree with enforced upon me and that is all there is to it. Do you quiz other people of any other religious beliefs why they do or don't want to do x y or z?

YeTalkShiteHen · 05/08/2018 14:08

So you are saying Sikhs must be racist then. Wow.

How the fuck you extrapolated that from my comment that freedom to practice religion is protected in law is actually quite incredible.

Wow. That level of ignorance is outstanding.

mintui · 05/08/2018 14:09

But 90% of halal meat is stunned before being cut (meaning the process is more or less equal to the non-halal process in terms of "humaneness"). So... yeah

Hmm still leaves a significant minority of animals which are not stunned before being killed.

"Sikhs are strictly prohibited from eating meat killed in a ritualistic manner (such as halal or kosher, known as Kutha meat )"

I'm not a Sikh but have many friends who are and they do not to eat halal. In certain situations this has meant we eat just the vegetarian food. Not a big deal.

rainbowsandsmiles · 05/08/2018 14:09

I have said why, it isn't MY religion as i have said plenty of times, you are clearly just choosing to ignore it. I don't want a religion I don't agree with enforced upon me and that is all there is to it

It's not enforced upon you, nobody's pinning you down to the floor and saying EAT THE MEAT! Confused
Just don't eat it.

YeTalkShiteHen · 05/08/2018 14:10

You haven’t answered how a prayer you don’t hear, doesn’t mean your faith (which you’ve said you don’t have) is compromised and doesn’t affect the meat you eat in any way affects you?

The short answer is that it doesn’t, and you just hate halal meat because it’s Muslim.

If you’re going to take a standpoint at least have the guts to be honest about why!

rainbowsandsmiles · 05/08/2018 14:10

Aaaand I bet OP's thinking WTF have I started lol Grin

JacquesHammer · 05/08/2018 14:10

So you are saying Sikhs must be racist then. Wow

The PP you are quoting is saying, quite literally, the opposite

Do you quiz other people of any other religious beliefs why they do or don't want to do x y or z?

I’m loving the fact you’re confusing “waaaah waaaah I don’t want to” with the tenets of someone else’s faith.

commonarewe · 05/08/2018 14:11

Freedom to practice your faith is protected in law. So that would include Sikhs and anyone else who couldn’t eat halal meat on a religious basis.

So you think it's justifiable that people who are religious should have more rights than those who are not? What happened to equality? To secularism?

YeTalkShiteHen · 05/08/2018 14:11

JacquesHammer thank you! I had actually gone back to reread my comment to see if it was ambiguous. It bloody wasn’t!

DiegoMadonna · 05/08/2018 14:12

So by the same principal I can disagree with eating halal meat!

You can, yes. That is your right and your prerogative. It just doesn't make any sense. I'm aware that not wanting to eat meat unless someone says some words before killing the animal also doesn't make much sense either, but two wrongs don't make a right. I'd say refusing to eat halal meat is slightly more stupid than muslims demanding to only eat halal meat – at least they can't help being brainwashed, what's your excuse?

mintui · 05/08/2018 14:12

You haven’t answered how a prayer you don’t hear, doesn’t mean your faith (which you’ve said you don’t have) is compromised and doesn’t affect the meat you eat in any way affects you?

Not true.

Sikhism's code of conduct says Sikhs are strictly prohibited from eating meat killed in a ritualistic manner.

SavvySaver24 · 05/08/2018 14:13

Yetalkshitehen, quite frankly the only one talking shite here is you. It is fuck all to do with the religion itself, I just don't want MY meat (or quite frankly any part of my life) to have ANYTHING to do with a religion I don't believe in.

I am sick of people like you who pander to the minorities views but belittle anyone elses as if they don't matter. Apply the same principal to everyone and stop beinn so effing hypocritical.

YeTalkShiteHen · 05/08/2018 14:13

So you think it's justifiable that people who are religious should have more rights than those who are not? What happened to equality? To secularism?

Their right to practice their faith has absolutely no tangible impact on me.

If I were to force them not to because of my own beliefs (or lack thereof) it would have a tangible effect on them.

One is oppressive, the other is not.

Although I’m sure you won’t udnerstand that either.

JacquesHammer · 05/08/2018 14:13

Sikhism's code of conduct says Sikhs are strictly prohibited from eating meat killed in a ritualistic manner

Which is fine and thus protected by law.

YeTalkShiteHen · 05/08/2018 14:13

I am sick of people like you who pander to the minorities views but belittle anyone elses as if they don't matter.

Aaaaaand there it is. Took a while but you showed your true colours eventually eh?

commonarewe · 05/08/2018 14:14

I’m loving the fact you’re confusing “waaaah waaaah I don’t want to” with the tenets of someone else’s faith.

All religions are literally nothing more than collections of arbitrary dogma, with no more independent value than anyone else's opinion. Why on earth are you an atheist if that's not the case?

ChopChipCookies · 05/08/2018 14:14

I'm surprised there is no option for minding this other than "bigotted".

We can tolerate each others different views without accepting them being widely incorporated in daily life.

I would be dismayed to discover all meat is halal. It's naive to think religion is harmless. Its not just about terrorism. A woman was turned down for a divorce because of our archaic divorce laws. Perhaps if the church hadn't had the ear of Tony Blair that would have changed.

Objecting to casual incorporation of religion into everyday life is not (necessarily) racism.