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!

Oh, and what about this? en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diet_in_Sikhism
In Sikhism, only lacto-vegetarian food is served in the Gurdwara (Sikh temple) but Sikhs are not bound to be meat-free.[1][2] The general consensus is that Sikhs are free to choose whether to adopt a meat diet or not.[2][3] Sikhs, once they become Amritdhari (baptised) via the Amrit Sanskar (baptism ceremony), are forbidden from eating Kutha or ritually-slaughtered (Halal, Kosher)[2] meat[4] because it transgresses one of the four restrictions in the Sikh Code of Conduct.[5][6]

I guess those Sikhs who follow their own cultural / religious prohibitions against ritual slaughter must all be secret racists, right?

Either that, or that argument must be a steaming pile of shit.

YeTalkShiteHen... my reason is because I don't believe in the religion so fundamentally disagree with it being allowed to infiltrate MY personal life. There is absolubtely NO difference between that and trying to force something from another religion onto a muslim.

BBQ salmon and veggie burgers, maybe some halloumi and red pepper skewers. Avoid pork, but they won't expect you not to serve it to others. They'll probably assume the meat isn't halal and stick to veggie bits and fish. If they're not that strict they might well drink alcohol. Don't bother telling guests meat is halal if you get halal meat, the comments on this thread are so ignorant and hypocritical. If you've ever had a takeaway curry or ate out then you've had halal meat! Or eaten in any chicken shops or many ready meals etc. I certainly wouldn't be announcing that the meat is non-halal, you'd risk doing the opposite of what you're aiming to achieve and leave the Muslim guests feeling less welcome when they work out why certain guests are avoiding the meat!

commonarewe

No, it means they are following their faith. Which is what Muslims are doing by only eating halal meats.

Why is it ok for Sikhs to practice their faith but not Muslims?

YeTalkShiteHen... my reason is because I don't believe in the religion so fundamentally disagree with it being allowed to infiltrate MY personal life

It’s a dead chicken. How is the religion infiltrating your life?

Unless you think somehow the meat absorbs the prayer in which case you’re more into religion than you think.

SavvySaver24 infiltrate? Good grief it’s a prayer you’ll never hear said over meat you’ll eat. It’s hardly indoctrination.

You’re not coming across as particularly tolerant, and actually illustrating the point about Islamophobia sadly very well.

When the meat is on your plate, do you know if it’s halal or not? Can you tell?

It doesn’t affect you at all, bar getting you wound up to the point where you’re increasingly angry that someone’s faith is observed. Why is that?

All meat in Australia is halal, DH works in an abattoir, where he works
the prayers are said by the same man who kills the animal (not over a loud speaker)and he kills all the animals that go through. Stress is minimised though as it affects the quality of the meat. Adrenaline changes the colour and taste of the meat, the quality is downgraded and it’s worth less money.

YeTalkShiteHen

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?

What actual reason? You know that non-halal meat is perfectly edible and that religion has no factual basis to it, right? It's just a preference - and if the preference for one form of preparation is accommodated, then so too must the preference against it.

Anything else is a hypocritical double standard.

*It’s a dead chicken. How is the religion infiltrating your life?

Unless you think somehow the meat absorbs the prayer in which case you’re more into religion than you think.*

Think about what you just wrote, turn it the other way round... you are essentially saying the prayer is null and void - FOR EVERYONE.

I think it is fundamentally wrong to have another religion forced upon me. Any other way round (i.e. any other religion forcing any other aspect of a religion on someone of a different religion) and people would find this abhorent.

Think about what you just wrote, turn it the other way round... you are essentially saying the prayer is null and void - FOR EVERYONE

No. Use your critical thinking, it is only of importance if you believe. If you don’t it has no meaning.

YeTalkShiteHen

Why is it ok for Sikhs to practice their faith but not Muslims?

Oh dear, you've exposed the fundamental weakness of your own argument. I'm saying that BOTH Sikhs AND Muslims AND other believers and non-believers should have options that respect their own beliefs or lack thereof. It does not mean imposing the beliefs of any one group upon all, because that would be grossly unjust.

I don't believe in the religion so fundamentally disagree with it being allowed to infiltrate MY personal life.

There are lots of things I don't personally believe in. But I do believe in having good, respectful relationships with my neighbours and looking for common ground.

It's just a preference

Actually it’s not a preference, it’s a religious ritual. The right to practice it is protected in law.

The people protesting have given no actual reasons why they’re against it, other than they don’t believe in it. Fine, in which case it doesn’t affect you then does it?

But to the people whose faith is important to them (whether that be Sikh, Muslim, Jewish or other faiths) it does affect them.

All this indignation dressed up is fooling absolutely nobody.

It does not mean imposing the beliefs of any one group upon all, because that would be grossly unjust

Then please explain exactly how you know which meat is halal and which isn’t, and how it affects you personally?

I am devoutly atheist.

I have issues with religious practices that do affect my life - schools (of any religion) being selective on faith grounds etc.

A prayer said over a piece of meat doesn’t even register because I don’t believe it makes no difference to me what is said over it.

JacquesHammer

I feel exactly the same.

If you are inviting a range of Muslim and non-muslim friends and it is a barbecue it should be easy to serve a range of suitable foods that they can pick and choose what they want to eat or leave. Personally, I would have a chat and ask them! Some people are stricter with diet than others

I feel exactly the same.

How unfortunate that neither you nor Jacques are the arbiters of what others are allowed to care about

Everything you're serving is fine. Check that the meat is halal. Re the alcohol, I doubt they would be offended but check first and advise that other people are drinking.

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

I'd normally agree but I would personally challenge the mainstreaming of religious practice in public life of any religion ... I don't think all objection is bigotry.

But more than that I think there is a huge problem brewing and the left does not even attempt to understand where the "bigotry" comes from.

I have family in the north of England and I challenged their views (I considered racist/Islamaphobic) a couple of years back...eg.they didn't seem upset when trying to get DC into a recent school and the nearest was CofE - allowed to prioritise on religious grounds etc. Some time has passed since we discussed their views on Islam. I can tell you they have gotten much more extreme. It is a huge error in my view to not try to understand. Calling bigotry isn't cutting it.

I repeat my view that it's an exact repeat of how immigration was treated. I'm certainly not enjoying my position on the moral high ground.

I can tell you they have gotten much more extreme

I see that daily. Both overt and insidious like on this thread.

Spot on @JacquesHammer - I live in Kuwait. Not any religion at all. I'm a meat eater and can only have halal meat here. Doesn't taste any different - in fact it's nicer 😊 the meat we get here isn't full of crap either

Given the fact there is an Established Church in the UK and that there are a great many religious schools, I'd say that the amount of cruelty and abuse carried out in the name of Christianity here greatly exceeds anything that other religions have achieved. (Our state religion fetishises the image of someone dying a death far slower and more painful than anything which takes place in a slaughterhouse.)

How can a bunch of random strangers on the internet tell you want your friends eat or don't eat?

Er, the earlier helpful posts were explaining halal food to,the OP.

I have a group of quite religious Muslim friends and we eat together regularly.
When I cook for them over the years I have found that if I do very obvious vegetarian food rather than cooking Halal more gets eaten. I also make a point of saying that I have used my new baking tray for the the dish so that they can be sure that there is no cross contamination.
A lot of it I think is nervousness over trust, I may think I have cooked correctly but what if I have inadvertently used a banned ingredient and the guilt on their part is not worth it.

Also use disposable plates and cutlery and get the nice disposable glasses if you can.
Plenty of juice and it might just be my mates but they cannot function without fizzy pop 😄