To serve these foods to muslim friends

[MissMildred]

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!

I'm a little confused on one point.....posters are saying the majority of meat sold is halal. And other posters are talking about prayers said over it. Surely the supermarkets, chain restaurants etc are selling meat that is halal according to slaughter methods....not prayer.
Please note I'm not making a judgement over the prayer aspect - but I'm somewhat bemused by the idea of prayer in the process of mass-produced meat.

I don't know why some people think it is perfectly acceptable for people to WANT a prayer said over their meat, and wouldn't eat it without it, but NOT acceptable that people DON'T want this!? Such double standards

exactly, eating meat which has had halal prayers said over it goes directly against the believes of many other people in society. some Christians, Jews, seiks, some atheists,

it is offensive to serve halal meat to some people, or to serve them at a meal where halal meat is being served.

There was major upset at a primary school near us recently where Christian children were being served labelled halal meat - the caterers were taken to court.

I'm a governor in a school in the same authority, and we had to reassure a lot of parents that halal eat was not being served in our school.

The Muslim children here eat the vegetarian option

*unlabelled - sorry, autocorrect

@ChopChipCookies

Halal meat will come from halal abattoirs, so the prayer is part of the slaughter process.

Halal simply means permissable.

*permissible

Although judging by the blethering in the local rag, there seem to be a group of hard of thinking who think you can catch Islam from a bit of meat

Sadly sounds about right.

ChopChipCookies

Prayer is part of the slaughter.

ChopChipCookies in most slaughter houses a recorded prayer is played over speakers whilst the meat is slaughtered, which makes it halal. The prayer is on repeat all day, every day in most slaughter houses, so most of the meat is halal.

Ignoring the halal debate (happily vegan here)
I just checked with my friend who says vinegar is permissible as any alcohol has been removed in the distilling process, but if not doubt just leave it out. It's polite to warn people if alcohol will be served so they can choose if that's an issue for them, and a separate area for halal meat if other meat is being cooking would be a good idea. Butter is fine. HTH.

Honestly never seem so many people suddenly obsessed with animal welfare. It's as if non halal meat comes from animals voluntarily slaughtered in a 5 star hotel

Lol, that's the bit that gets me too. Like it's not cruel to kill an animal to eat it if it's not done halal or something
You're still sending it off to be killed to be able to your burger and chips or whatever, not sending it to some fluffy five star resort!

be able to eat your that should read

Yeah I’m another who wouldn’t eat Halal meat so if your serving it make sure all your guests know!

Yeah I’m another who wouldn’t eat Halal meat

Why? Genuinely curious. It's just meat. (Non Muslim meat eater here.)

Yeah I’m another who wouldn’t eat Halal meat so if your serving it make sure all your guests know!

Unless you’re vegetarian it’s pretty much guaranteed you will have.

Unless you’re vegetarian it’s pretty much guaranteed you will have.

You say that as if it's just a fait accompli we should accept and a good thing. Would you be equally blase if supermarkets and restaurants couldn't be bothered to label pork content?

Not wanting to eat meat that has been ritually slaughtered unstunned is not racist.

Not wanting to eat meat going through a normal slaughterhouse with recorded prayers playing over a loudspeaker is racist.

Not wanting to eat meat going through a normal slaughterhouse with recorded prayers playing over a loudspeaker is racist.

Are you actually serious? Why on earth should the cultural or religious wishes of those who want prayers said over their food trump the cultural or religious wishes of those who do not want said prayers? Where's the equality? Where's the secular option?

I clearly know little of where our meat comes from. If 85% is halal I assumed that all/most abbatoirs had changed their slaughter methods. Otherwise where is all the meat from "non-halal" existing abbatoirs going? Anyway, doesn't matter, haven't got a point to make about that. Thanks for answers.

I think it's important not to shut people down with a racist label for trying to discuss a subject. That's how we create support for right wing politics. Labour/the left did it with immigration and look where that got us.

I also think that religion seeping into every day life - like the majority of meat production - is an issue. Religion is not based on anything factual or rational etc and so I think there is at least justification of a discussion. I think we can be tolerant without adopting religious practices as the norm. Of much bigger concern to me is the presence of Christianity in mainstream education and public policy. DS2 is often spouting religious nonesense.

Commonarewe I 100% agree with you!! Like I said earlier why is it acceptable to WANT to have a prayer said over your meat but not to NOT WANT a prayer said over you meat. Nothing racist about it so stupid people need stop screaming racist just to try and shut the conversation down.

Can I just say as a no meat eater who hates mushrooms and peppers if you served falafel and halloumi for me at a bbq I'd probably well up slightly with gratitude!

I think it's important not to shut people down with a racist label for trying to discuss a subject.

I think it’s important to differentiate between calling out bigotry and shutting down sensible debate.

Non*

Like I said earlier why is it acceptable to WANT to have a prayer said over your meat but not to NOT WANT a prayer said over you meat.

Because presumably the people who do want a prayer said can give an actual reason, and the ones who don’t can’t give an actual reason beyond screeching that it’s their right not to?

Stupid people

Like the ones who resort to insults when they’re shown up for not having an actual reason for being so angry about something that affects them in absolutely no way at all?

I'm saying a prayer over this thread.

Where's the secular option?

Because it is both.

If you believe in prayer, great it’s halal.

If you don’t, great it makes no difference because you don’t believe.

But it’s easier to froth right?