City of Brass

halal pizza

Friday February 13, 2009

pizza_1293894c.jpgWhat happens when a Domino's pizza decides to serve to all-halal menu? The end of Western civilization, of course:

Chris Yates, 29, a hospital worker living in Moseley, Birmingham, said he was told he couldn't have a 'Meteor' pizza, topped with pepperoni, sausage, meatballs, ground beef and smoky bacon, when he called up at the weekend.

He said: "It's a disgrace, I can appreciate them having it as an option but to have it completely halal is just not on," he fumed.

"I'm all for racial and religious tolerance but if anything this is intolerant to my beliefs and discriminatory against me.

"Instead I had to travel two miles out of my way to another branch - I was appalled. "Hall Green is a mixed race area and should therefore cater to its multicultural make-up.

"In a society that promotes racial and religious integration, this sort of things only isolates people."

While Peter Merholz, 38, from Hall Green, added: "This is a global pizza chain that is isolating western values and choice. It's alienating people and that's just not on.

"I'd been coming here for ages but now I'll go elsewhere because I can't get a pepperoni pizza, which is what I always have."

Halal items on the menu include halal spicy beef sausage, roast and tandoori chicken, halal pepperoni and halal cured turkey - all produced and stored within the Halal Food Authorities guidelines.

The reactions (emphasis mine) are illuminating. These members of the religious and cultural minority are so threatened by one halal pizza shop that they feel as if they are being discriminated against - and this despite the fact that pepperoni remains on the menu, and there are plenty of other pizza venues they can get their pig products from if their palates really are so refined as to discern the difference between halal and non-halal anyway (let's face it. this is pizza we are talking about, not foie gras).

The predictable cries of "Dhimmitude" notwithstanding, this is actually a positive mark of assimilation and a good thing overall for the UK muslim community. It's exactly the sort of thing that the putative Defenders of the West should be trumpeting as evidence of the West's capability for religious tolerance and freedom. Instead, we have pepperoni ultimatums.

It's worth pointing out that the muslim world doesn't seem too concerned about Burger King's prime location in Mecca. Also note that the Subway fast-food chain has many Kosher outlets now in the US. Their existence went largely unremarked and un-outraged. Frankly I think that Kosher and Halal should be combined. It wouldn't be too hard to cross-certify food according to both standards, at least for basic staples.
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Comments
Phil
February 13, 2009 4:31 PM

Well, if I lived in a large enough community that had ethnic enclaves, I would expect the local food choices to be a reflection of the community. If you are in the Italian part of town, expect Italian. I noticed on my first trip to Dubai that some of the locals were a bit tweaked about the influx of all the foreign labor in that part of the world right now, so the west doesn't necessarily hold exclusive rights to the notion that foreign influence dilutes local tradition, even if it is just pizza.
Cheers...

WT
February 14, 2009 4:08 AM

Halal slaughter is barbaric and has no place in England.

There are clear laws about the stunning of animals - these laws need to be adhered to. No excuses.

Halal slaughter is cruel, involves unnecessary suffering and should be banned completely.

Arnella
February 18, 2009 5:07 AM

Personally I think halal resturants are a wonderful idea. I am not Muslim, but I purchase mostly halal meat and in the city where I live, there is not one halal resturant although we have many Muslim residents. Consuming pork is equal to ingesting poison.

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City of Brass by Aziz Poonawalla approaches issues from the perspective of a Muslim of the West. Aziz, a member of the Dawoodi Bohra Muslim community, has been blogging since early 2003. His other major Islamsphere projects include the group weblog Talk Islam and the annual Brass Crescent Awards. Aziz currently resides near Madison, WI with his wife and children.

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