Muslim Food: Halal

Recipe of the Week: Check out these traditional Muslim dishes!

We just started reading Reading Lolita in Tehran in our English class, a memoir that takes place in Iran under the regime of the Islamic Republic. The book follows an informal class of women who discuss banned literature, such as works by Jane Austen, Scott F. Fitzgerald, and obviously Vladimir Nabokov. The women all have interesting and different perspectives, often discussing issues that they have with their government, the Islamic rule, and how the post-revolutionary world has affected them.

This got me thinking into the food traditions of Islam in general. The Qu'ran gives Muslims a certain dietary law to follow. According to this law, Muslims can eat what is considered to be pure, clean, and fresh. This is refered to as halal, which literally means permitted. Almost all foods are considered to be halal, and can be eaten freely.

The foods that are forbidden are called haram, which literally means prohibited. Some foods which are considered to be haram include pork, alcohol, or any animals that are improperly slaughtered. These types of foods are forbidden to maintain one's purity and cleanliness.

This dietary law is what the women in Reading Lolita in Tehran live by, which may seem distant to us, but these traditions are not extremely foreign in America. In fact, many religions have a dietary code similar to this one, all in hopes of maintaining one's same purity. Food is prominent in one's religion. For example, it is Jewish dietary code to keep kosher, which allows certain foods and not others like that of Islam.

Through this blog, I have hoped to expose the power and influence of food around the world. In this case, we have seen the role of food in religion, and how Islam has reacted to food in the world. Food can determine one's purity, and therefore food is powerful.

Peace out, and rock on.