to not know if this offensive?

[Catnary]

Colleague in canteen queue today, I comment that the food looks tasty. She makes a face, points to the label and says “Yeah but look, I’m not eating that!”

Label says “Halal beef casserole”.

I say “but it’s just a different way of slaughtering the cow”

”Yeah I know, that’s what I mean, it’s SO cruel. I can’t have that on my conscience.”

This was all very loud and other people overheard. Neither colleague nor I are Muslim but many other colleagues are. I felt very uncomfortable, didn’t engage, and ordered the beef.

Is this just no different to a vegetarian declaring loudly that they couldn’t possibly be so cruel as to eat meat, or is it a slur on Muslims? It felt inappropriate, especially at work.

I agree, vegetarian food can be enjoyed by everyone (and I don’t mean food which is specifically vegetarian, accidentally vegetarian food like quiche, macaroni cheese, most pasta dishes, pizza etc) and a meat option.

Im sure my daughters school serves meat replacement products/ veggie dishes instead of kosher/halal meat, in addition to “regular” meat. It covers more bases that way.

Unless of course this is just an excuse to start the usual thread about Halal meat.

All that happens in most slaughterhouses is the cows are killed in exactly the same way, but a religious recording is played in the slaughterhouse. That is it. It makes zero difference. Any halal meat in catering companies or supermarkets this will be what has happened.
The exception is if you buy your meat in a specialist high street Halal butcher it MIGHT be slaughtered differently. This is a tiny proportion of Halal meat.

And KFC uses only Halal meat.

A lot of Greggs meat is Halal.

Sorry I hit the wrong button - I meant you are not being unreasonable.

I think it is an ignorant comment, yes. All animal slaughter, for consumption, is cruel and unnecessary in my opinion. The animals she is consuming have not exactly been given the red carpet to the slaughter house. The animals she's eating will have been treated like shit (profit before welfare) and didn't want to die.

I had the same ignorant opinion many years ago.

I feel quite strongly that people should say “haitch” instead of “aitch”. I express this opinion strongly to my son (who is learning to read) and in groups of fellow “haitch”- haters.

What I don’t do is go round talking about it loudly at work, because I know that some people who say “haitch” might think it was rude. There’s a time and a place.

This. If this person has never expressed any issues with eating meat or sourcing it ethically, I'd be pretty suss about why they choose Halal slaughter to raise an issue with.

Aaargh, I feel strongly that people should NOT say “haitch”, is what I meant to type.

Sorry Xpost

No I don’t think it’s offensive. You asked basically for her view, by saying it looked tasty and therefore expressing that you didn’t really care if it was halal or not, she was saying that she did care if it was halal or not.

So you invited her opinion.

@WalkthisWayUK I'm not sure if you understand the difference between a question and a statement?

The OP made a statement saying that it 'looked delicious' (not verbatim).

There was absolutely no reason for the other person to respond with her comment, because the OP didn't ask a question.

Missing the point of this thread, but I also hate "haitch". I don't know why, but it does.

What is 'haitch'?

Hmm, she started by pointing out the sign to me in a way that suggested she thought I had missed it and she was doing me a favour by warning me, followed by the loud performative “oh no I couldn’t POSSIBLY have that on my conscience”. Come to think of it, it was also rude to the catering staff.

Like when you say NHS as “Enn haitch ess”

or H&M as “haitch and Em”.

This is the real point here to me. Unless she is rigorous about welfare standards, etc. I would find it disingenuous.

So actually, it's just like Tommy Robinson raging about nine Asian paedophiles in Rochdale, but saying absolutely nothing at all about the 1,323 white people convicted of sex offences against minors that same year. It's not about the crimes against women and children - it's about the ethnicity of the perpetrator. That's what makes him racist. And using the same logic, so is your colleague.

I do take slight issue with this. The Rochdale and similar Lancashire and West Yorkshire areas where this occurred, race was an absolute issue. And it was an issue because it was easier for police forces in those areas to discard the testimony of disenfranchised and disadvantaged white girls, than it was to question a community that might have been politically difficult.

The fact that Tommy Robinson took this as a cause is neither here nor there. Actually, that's not even true. Because people in those communities that knew what was going on are more likely to listen to men like Tommy Robinson if the police are doing fuck-all about things.

And I absolutely don't support the colleagues probable anti-islamism. However in a country that actually has pretty good animal husbandry, why not have free-range chicken and plenty of vegetarian options. Why have a chicken dish that is halal?

It seems to me that this type of decision actually causes division rather than welcomes differences.

She sounds like a bit of a dick. She probably saw something on Facebook and now thinks she's enlightened, even though she's probably never given any thought to how any other animal product is made for her consumption 🙄

@Catnary Oh, I'm from Yorkshire. I'd say H like 'haych'. I don't know how you'd pronounce it otherwise?

@MakingTheVeganYorkshirePud

I too am from Yorkshire, I say 'aitch'.

No H.

And I absolutely don't support the colleagues probable anti-islamism. However in a country that actually has pretty good animal husbandry, why not have free-range chicken and plenty of vegetarian options. Why have a chicken dish that is halal?

@DeFacto it was halal beef, not chicken. There was a full range of vegetarian food, fish and non-halal chicken on offer too.

Probably because no one really cares about how their food got there, except halal eaters so it's just easier to have halal. Have you ever tried to organise a lunch or dinner with all these different requirements, it's a nightmare so I can see why a workplace has just chose halal. I will never organise another Christmas party again 😵‍💫🔫

No voiced “h” sound at the beginning. The same way you’d say “air” not “hair” when talking about the stuff you breathe.

I find the concept of halal meat offensive. So what, you don't shut down speech incase you may offend someone.(unless it's over a protected characteristic)