French exchange student

[maslinpan]

I have a 13 yo exchange student visiting for a week. I need some ideas for typically English meals that are also halal. I can buy halal meat quite easily, but my mind has gone blank as most of what we eat - tortilla wraps, curry, pasta, pizza - is no particularly English when I think about it. I don't want to challenge him too much in case he is not very adventurous.

When I had a french exchange student they thought we had a full English every morning in the U.K. and were surprised we had cereal!

Id do a full English breakfast one day (do a meat free sausage and bacon?), a roast dinner on the Sunday and fish and chips one evening. Otherwise eat what you normally eat.

Fish /Scampi and Chips is Halal.
Full English with a Beef/Turkey (halal) Sausage and Beef/Turkey (halal) Bacon
Roast Dinner with Halal meat - chicken, beef, lamb (think the NZ lamb is mostly halal)
Summer Pudding
Shepherd's / Cottage Pie with halal mince

Salmon, new potatoes and asparagus
Fish pie
Chicken and mushroom pie
Beef wellington

Apple crumble
Flapjacks
Victoria sponge

Trifle.
Tottenham Cake.
Apple Crumble

13 you say.... he won't care, he will hoover up whatever it is besides non halal and pork, and then some. Make what you normally eat, with allowances for the halal of course.

I'd just eat what you normally do but make it halal. Not every meal has to be British. Have a roast one day, Cornish pasties for lunch another day, maybe a hot pot which is quite similar to the French cassoulet but don't worry about it too much. I'd be tempted to ask him what kind of meals he likes and go from there. Better to send him home fed than challenge him with obscure English dishes he doesn't enjoy.

I don't understand why a French person would need Halal food?

French usually have their lamb so rare it's nearly bleating - surely that's not Halal.

Just curious?

Wouldn't it also give him a misleading idea of what many Brits eat if you go full on traditional British meals. Adapt for halal but do what you normally do perhaps with plenty of other things around if he really hates it

French Muslims exist you know

Many people in France are Muslims with family from places like the Ivory Coast and Algeria.

Halal meat is slaughtered in a certain way. A rare steak can be halal.

Because amazingly enough, Muslims might live there? It’s got a large North African population too…

And yes halal meat is slaughtered in a certain way, and it’s no crueler than the way haram meat is slaughtered unless it’s unstunned which is very hard to get hold of and very expensive. It has a prayer said over it which would be the most discernible difference, but how much it is cooked is nothing to do with if its halal or haram.

Im increasingly convinced huge numbers of MN users literally never talk to people who aren’t middle class and white.

When we had an exchange student we had fish and chips and a roast. I did a crumble for pudding one night, and a fry-up one morning just so they had some traditional English food. The rest of the time it was just ordinary spag bol etc. I also had to provide a packed lunch every day, so you might need to give that some thought.
TBH she was so exhausted after the full on sight seeing everyday I don't think she was really bothered by what she was given to eat!

I agree that a roast would be a good idea, I’d do roast chicken. Then if you had any leftover chicken you could do a chicken & mushroom pie another day.

I’d also make some traditional cakes and puddings, Victoria sponge, apple pie & custard, strawberries & cream, rhubarb fool etc.

I’d ask him if there was anything he would like to try, and what his favourite food at home was, maybe all the family could have a go at making the dish together?

I too was a bit confused because it is irrelevant if he is French surely, it's the Muslim part that needs saying?

Did he say he eats everything as long as it’s halal? No allergies, no major unmanageable dislikes? Just buy halal meat and cook what you normally have. Be careful with things that could contain gelatin too - they are not usually halal.

Why does it need to be typically English?

Your child surely wouldn't go to France and be shocked by Merguez sausage, falafel, cous cous etc?

Maybe do a nod to British food a la cooked breakfast or fish and chips but then just cook whatever you'd normally do (halal version). Because that WOULD be British food as he's eating with a British family.

Give him what you usually have.its what you have he's come to experience and will still differ from his home comforts.ask him if he's like u to try cook anything in particular or try something- fish and chip,take out curry or Chinese? You could add in a roast,pies,sausage and mash or toad in whole.do English breakie once.cereals fine as they often don't.show him our squashes and ribena as cordial differs.
Get some nice white loaves for lunch to show sandwiches, or try beans on toast or an egg variety,fish fingers.
Go by him.it depends if his family is very traditional villagecfrench or more branded supermarche French.
Get lots of pickle food too and tell him to help himself to anything there just in case he feels overwhelmed.plus he's 13cand a boy so will eat!

Perhaps ask him what his face meal is and do the equivalent for English taste test,even if it's trying our pizzas which our French pal laughed at. Find him something he'll go home wanting take with him.

You could try some of the traditional things that horrify/enrage French people, so he can go back home with tales of shocking food exploits. Eg mint sauce. The huge range of pre-made sandwiches, especially if there is some kind of novelty one a la Xmas dinner sandwich. There is a sweet that always horrifies the French too but I forget what it is.

And surely he'll need to learn that our nation's favourite dish has been for years, chicken tikka masala.

Can you really not think of a reason that a French person would need halal ? You do understand that Muslims live in all different countries don't you?

You don't need to cook typically English for all meals. Dd was served risotto, lasagne etc when staying with her French family as they eat food from other countries like we do.

A family I stayed with asked if we eat jelly as it's like frogs spawn and asked if we eat boiled meat.

Beans
Roast & Yorkshire pudding
Fish and chips
Chicken tikka
English breakfast
Marmite:)

Jelly
Trifle
Apple crumble

Jacket potatoes are a real hit as they're not a thing in France!
Cottage pie with halal mince.
I would still do the tortillas etc as it's a taste of your normal food.
A (very mild) curry might be nice too, as not so standard in France.
Beans on toast if you want to really freak them out