My mum hosts international language students. She generaly has Japanese, Swiss or German students but this weekend she is getting one from Saudi Arabia.
She is a bit worried about what to feed this guy. She doesn’t have to worry about finding hahal (I have no idea how to spell that) meat because the school has said he has requested a vegetarian/seafood diet but we were wondering if muslims have any other dietry laws she should know about.
Thanks for your help.
IANAM, but I’m fairly certain that anything with alcohol is not good.
In any event, google “muslim diet” and you’ll turn up several pages with guidelines.
Zev Steinhardt
First, the kind of food he’s probably going to want to eat is called halal - that should help you in your searches.
Second, the easiest way to make a halal meal is, generally, to make a kosher one. There are some differences/disputes, particularly with the meat, but if it’s going to be vegetarian/seafood anyway that won’t be a problem. There seems to be some dispute among various authorities on Islamic law about which types of seafood are allowed. Some are as strict as the Jews and only allow actual fish with “scales and fins,” while others say that pretty much anything that lives in the water is okay, with the exception of alligators/crocodiles, frogs, and otters and turtles that haven’t been slaughtered by the rules for land animals. If someone more informed can come along and inform us as to which particular ruling this young man is likely to follow, given his country of origin, that would certainly be helpful - otherwise, stick with the actual fish if you want to go with seafood. There’s no prohibition against mixing meat and dairy, so there’s no need for special plates or utensils or anything like that. Alcohol in any form is a definite no.
Apparently some Muslims feel that kosher cheese and gelatin may not be halal, but from what I can tell, they may not have their facts straight. If kosher cheese and kosher gelatin can be made with pig products, they’re not halal, but Jews certainly don’t seem to think they can…
Paging Aldebaran.
When traveling, Muslims often cleave to fish, as all fish are permitted.
When dealing with meat, ensure it is not bloody. That freaks many people out.
Why even bother with meat? Make him a salad. Or a felafel. I hear those are big in the Middle East.
Mum eats mussels often. Are shellfish ok?
As I said above, there’s dispute about that, so it’s impossible to say for certain unless we can figure out whose teachings this guy’s paying attention to. But as no actual Muslims are appearing, I’ll give it a shot. He’s probably a Sunni Muslim, being from SA. And given that this page says “The government of Saudi Arabia vigorously enforces its prohibition against all forms of public religious expression other than that of those who follow the government’s interpretation and presentation of the Hanbali school of Sunni Islam,” I’m going to guess that he probably goes along with that, despite the fact that there are those that follow the other schools in SA. Now, I can’t figure out what Wahhabites (another form of Islam, most popular in SA) think of non-fins-and-scales seafood, but I’m guessing this guy’s not a Wahhabite - they tend to be pretty down on infidels, so I’d think they’d avoid becoming international students and having dinner with your mum.
Soooooo, given those assumptions, we have to figure out whether he can eat mussels. This page says “According to the Hanbaliy and Shafi’ee scholars, all living creatures that live in the sea are halal, whether they are in the form of a fish or not. (Fiqh alal Madhaahib al-Arbaa). Based on this, oyster, oyster extract, shrimp, lobster and shark are all halal and permissible.” So mussels would be fine.
Oh, and after I’d done all this work, I found this page listing information about various Saudi seafood companies - including one that, uh, imports mussels into Saudi Arabia. :smack: :smack: :smack:
So yeah. Mussels and such should be fine. :o
Thanks elfbabe you have been very helpful.
The student is a 35 yr old school teacher. Given the current world climate coming to NZ to learn English is probably a big leap of faith for him at this time. I would imagine it also says he is fairly open minded, mum just wants to make sure he is comfortable for the month he is here.
A month? A month?? :eek: If he’s staying for a month, she can just ASK him what he’d be ok with! I thought this was going to be a one-weekend thing!
Hehe, anyway. Glad to be of help, and I hope things work out.
Well obviously she will. She is just from that ultra polite school and is worried about offending the poor chap. She was having kittens about doing something wrong.
Chances are the fact that the dog will slink under the table during dinner time is as offensive as it will get but she asked me to ask the wise dopers!
Dog, hmm? Well, I hate to bring this up if she doesn’t already know it, but dogs are… well, generally not terribly well-regarded by many Muslims. Again, we can probably take the fact that he’s coming to NZ as an indicator of his open-mindedness, but it’s probably best to ask him if he minds the dog and to be prepared to keep it away from him if he does.
Hosts have to fill out a fairly detailed form about their household. In mums case she has hosted students for about four years now.
Mum is potty about her dog so the school knows that. I am presuming he doesn’t have dog issues since he will be well aware mum has one.
Oh good! That’s a relief. I’m sure it’ll be fine, then.
Yes thats what I thought :).
It is winter here. Pumpkin soup is one of mums favourite things…especially if she has vegetarians. She plans to give him pumpkin soup the first night he is here (mucky situation, she is working that day and wants something yummy but quick)
I am thinking that pumpkin soup is not a universal favourite (I don’t know why though cause it is seriously yummmy!). So her next suggeston is Ratotouille. I can’t see how that can go wrong.
She is just concerned about not upsetting him.
Sorry for the hijack, but could I get a translation, please?
Fortunate that he requested a vegetarian diet, and he probably did so to make things easier on you. Halal rules, to my limited knowledge, apply most strictly to meat. Muslim dietary rules are similar to Kosher Law regarding proper methods of slaughter and draining of blood, which means that it’s tough to put together a meat-containing diet in a non-Muslim country.
And many Muslims interpret the prohibition on alcohol very strictly - some going so far as to avoid foods made out of alcohol-containing extracts and flavors, even if the alcohol’s cooked off completely. Of course, this isn’t universal.
I’d start by asking him when he arrives - and just to be on the safe side, don’t serve him a plate of mussels as soon as he gets there. Ask first.