Do they serve Halal zhabiha meat at college cafeterias and dining plans? Will a practicing religious Muslim like me who only eat at restaurants that have “Halal” signs in the front have to survive by eating vegetarian, vegan, and at halal restaurants during college. Please tell me the situation at RPI, Northeastern, Harvard, Cornell, Princeton, Columbia, MIT, UPenn, and Carnegie Mellon. Thank You
Have you tried googling? Many schools will have student associations that catalogue this information. Ex. http://www.upennmsa.org/halalpenn/
Hi, I had a similar situation since I keep kosher. As mentioned above, googling helps and you can usually find your answer there. If not, find the email address of the chaplain and they’ll know.
Good luck!
You can check the colleges’ housing and dining web sites to see if there is any information on the subject. If not, or if it is insufficiently complete, you may want to ask the colleges’ housing and dining departments directly.
As the various posters have said, the info is usually available on line, but I would expect all of those unis have Halal options available (I know that Columbia, Cornell, MIT & Princeton do- google the rest).
@tawhidkhn63 cant you just say the verse and eat anything?
I can’t advise you much except to say that I am sure each of those schools will have a wide array of suitable food options. Even my kid’s tiny college offers halal and kosher food. It’s pretty standard these days.
the what?
@nshheh I’m fairly certain no. The meat has to be slaughtered and blessed a certain way to be marked as halal.
@tawhidkhn63 some MIT dining halls serve halal meats, although from what I’ve seen, choices are pretty limited. However there are lots of halal restaurants in the vicinity.
@nshheh AFAIK only the person killing the animal can say the verse, it has to be sliced in a particular (arguably inhumane way).
OP, If you’re going to self-impose dietary restrictions that are very important to you, you should make an effort to reach out to the colleges in question to make sure they’re available. And if they aren’t, then you could probably appeal a requirement to be forced into an on-campus meal plan, and do your own shopping. But that’s something you’ll have to ask the universities individually. If they cannot accommodate your restriction, then you might have to take that college off of your list.
@bodangles Isn’t Lent just about what you stop yourself from doing? So that could be giving up alcohol, or sex, or dairy, or meat, or chocolate (I heard that one a few times).
@philbegas As I understand it, the meat thing is universal and the other things are personal. I can choose to give up chocolate for Lent, but I have to eat fish on Fridays too, because everyone has to do that.
**At least that’s how I learned it. I’m sure other parishes or families may do it differently.
Got it, I suppose if you’re a hardcore catholic you’re not having sex besides for procreation anyways or drinking alcohol.
You really need to look at each school’s website bc this will be a big decision factor for you. Are you able to visit any? If you visit, they will show you what’s available in the cafeterias.
Some believers I know picked from both Hallal and Kosher food choices since the meat in particular is close enough, even if the blessings are different. It depends on how strict you are in your interpretation.
Email these schools - but not just these schools, which are reaches for everyone, but also your matches and safeties. Contact both the Muslim student association and Dining services in order to have different perspectives.
I agree you need to do your own research. Either use google or look on each schools website – most schools have a Dining services page. If the answer is not clear then contact (call or email) the Dining Service at the school. Contacting the Muslim student association at the schools you are considering as suggested by @MYOS1634 above is a good idea as well.
It seems you have already applied to colleges. You can do this research now or wait until you see where you get in and what is affordable and then just look into those schools. If you visit any schools for accepted students day that would be the best way to see first hand what is offered in the dining facilities.