Harry’s Place » KFC and the BNP
Edmund Standing at Harry’s Place on the Islamophobic reaction to the decision by KFC to offer halaal meat at eight of their outlets. The usual suspects have been whingeing, among them Robert Spencer who detects “Islamic supremacist assertions that non-Muslims must abide by Islamic norms”, when in fact this is plainly a move by a commercial organisation to please its customers, or attract more customers:
Now firstly, KFC is an American company and its restaurants are famous for serving Southern fried chicken. I’m not wanting to come over all Naomi Klein on the issue, but if there is any kind of ‘colonisation’ going on here it’s colonisation by American culture, given the fact there are now 720 KFC stores nationwide, all of which are no doubt contributing to the ‘crushing’ of our ‘indigenous’ fish and chip shops and greasy spoon cafes by ‘invading’ the British market with their foreign chicken dishes. How ironic that an insular minded political party that professes a hatred of globalisation should be so upset about what happens to American fast food chains in this country.
Secondly, what a load of nonsense anyway. Businesses, last time I checked, work on the basis of making a profit from serving their customers with a desired product. It is quite obvious why KFC is trialling halal meat and it has nothing to do with ‘colonisation’ by a Muslim conspiracy and everything to do with making more money. If you go into any urban area in Britain with a significant Muslim presence you will find that almost all independent outlets selling fried chicken are halal certified. There is a good financial reason for doing this - it means more customers. And, despite ethical issues surrounding ritual slaughter, I never saw any shortage of non-Muslim customers frequenting such fast food businesses in my time living in Cardiff, London, and Birmingham. After all, let’s face it, if you don’t care about the birds having to live their entire lives shut away in factory farms, it’s hard to see why you should suddenly be so filled with compassion for them at their moment of death.
Given the fact that numerous independent restaurants and smaller chains already sell halal chicken wings and chicken burgers, it is clearly counterproductive for KFC not to.
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As silly as this sounds… I feel quite sorry for people who make their livings out of indiscriminate hate. It’s a very sad state of existence.
“our ‘indigenous’ fish and chip shops” Actually introdcued by jewish immmigrants in the nineteenth century. In fact, B.N.P. members seem to favour U.S.-inspired food- such as hamburgers and lager, a German-inspired beer, whereas members of C.A.M.R.A., dedicated to the preservation of traditional British beers tend to be liberal or even leftist in political inclination.
I like the way one poster always brings up the J word whether he attributes them with “western civilisation”, modern science or now they are suppose to have invented fish and chips.
Dude, you need to get out more.
I can confirm that there is no such thing as “Halal” in the UK unless you want to import meat from Muslim countries. All the products sold in Muslim shops are from New Zealand, Australia and here the UK.
So where is the “Halal”?
I wonder whether we need to check the trade terms that make it so difficult for Muslim countries to export to the UK.
Don’t know about fish but am almost certain chips came from the Irish.
Also T, please quit recycling Faulkner quotes from Obama speeches:-)I have read your propaganda on these pages for a long time and have no problem with it really (it’s a free world and all that)but there’s never been any indication you are the literary type. I distinctly remember your Faulkner quote from Obama’s racial relations speech.
Obama and the Faulkner Quote:
Barack Obama gave a speech today taking on the complicated history of racial relations in America. Considering the how difficult a topic this is to tackle, it was a brave move. Embedded within the speech was a quote from Faulkner, “The past isn’t dead and buried. In fact, it isn’t even past.”
Full article:
http://www.themillions.com/200.....quote.html
Chips were originally frites in France; fried battered fish was a jewish delicacy. Both probably met in the East End of London in the early nineteenth century. The railways, which meant that fresh instead of salt or smoked fish was available throughout Britain, spread the new dish. I’d not come across the Obama speech. I’m a great admirer of Faulkner as is- presumably- Obama’s speech-writer. If you haven’t noticed I’m the literary type it shows you’re either not very observant or not very knowledgeable- I regularly make literary references in my writings- where do you suppose I got my nom de guerre anyway?
Just to add to the discussion as an Australian-Muslim: Australia has a thriving halal meat export industry in actual fact, with numerous national bodies set up to cover the accreditation and so on. It is exported not just to the UK but also around the Muslim world itself.
The MacDonalds and KFC’s here in Sydney have for years offered halal meat at their branches in the areas heavily populated by Muslims. Nandoes too for that matter.
Can LeedsLad please speak further about the following:
I can confirm that there is no such thing as “Halal” in the UK unless you want to import meat from Muslim countries. All the products sold in Muslim shops are from New Zealand, Australia and here the UK.
So where is the “Halal”?
Is meat only halal if it comes from a Muslim? Is that you’re trying to say? :-S Do the sheep take shahada in Pakistan?
I live in East London and the thing about this that has upset me most is the queues going out the door at the KFC down the road from me. No joke, it’s sad. VERY SAD. it’s been open more than a week now and if you go past any time in the evening you can be guaranteed to see a big long queue. It’s just FRIED CHICKEN!
Salaam,
Is all Kosher meat Halaal or only some of it? A cousin who worked near Liverpool street some years a go told me he used to get all his meals during the day from a Jewish Kosher cafe in the area -I’d appreciate it if someone could tell me what Kosher meat is permissible for a Muslim.
It says in Wikipedia: Whether or not Muslims can use kashrut standards as a replacement for halal standards is an ongoing debate. Just wondering if anyone has some up to date info on this. Meat is not my thing so I tend not to care one way or the other about it generally.
Salaam,
@Saggal: the short answer is that kosher meat is halaal but not everything else that’s kosher is. In particular, some alcoholic drinks are kosher and there are different rules on things like gelatine, which are haraam in Islam unless they are taken from a properly slaughtered animal. Basically if you can recognise what you are eating and it’s kosher, it’s probably halaal, but processed food items aren’t always.
The reason why Australia and New Zealand dominate the Halal market is because of the Las Vegas loving Saudi royal family who has a vested interest in the export business of sheep from Australia.
I remember one certain official from a certain UK Halal organisation admitting that Halal methods are illegal by law, and to his knowledge only about 3% of the market was not recorded by government. The same goes in Australia and New Zealand.
Muslims need to appreciate their appetite for meat cannot be met by Halal methods and face reality rather than the current cosmetic Halal meat products.
Why would Muslim countries much nearer to Saudi Arabia be ignored for Australian?
All we get from Australia and New Zealand is racism and Islamophobia, so please remember that helping such countries will only halt the development of our future. Pressure your MP and ask him/her about trade with North Africa and Asia in this area.
Also, Britain might reduce emigration since those nomads in North Africa will certainly have some hope than killing themselves trying to cross to Europe.
I think the Saudis (and other Arab states) have meat imported from NZ because NZ can produce lots of lamb, as there’s lots of cold, wet grassland there which is ideal for raising sheep and not good for much else. Meanwhile, the Arabs love eating meat and they have plenty of western fast food franchises there.
As for what makes meat halaal: it’s the method of slaughtering, and who does it. It doesn’t have to come from a Muslim country; it just has to be slaughtered by a Muslim (or a Jew, as kosher meat is also halaal).
If halaal slaughter was really illegal, then it wouldn’t have been allowed to continue for this long. Muslim slaughtering is done essentially the same way as other slaughtering; the difference is that the blessing is said over it at the time and that it has to be done by a Muslim. The only dispute is over slaughtering an animal that’s not been stunned; some Islamic scholars don’t permit stunning. But currently, that is still going on.
Thank you Yusuf.
was watching ‘take away my takeaway’ on c4, where a kentucky slaughterhouse used the same method as Halal, slitting the throat and draining the blood.
the veteran non Muslin butcher, acclaimed to be the best in kentucky, stated its the best way to get good meat
SubhanAllah!
I’m surprised the greatest level of opposition isn’t coming from Sikhs (who AFAIK are forbidden from eating halal meat).
KFC have franchises all over the Arab world, presumably serving halaal slaughtered extruded chicken by-products, laced with the usual sub-lethal cocktail of E-numbers. The result is as revolting in UAE or Egypt as it is in the UK or elsewhere in the non-Muslim world.