THE MEAT BARN

This meat shop called THE MEAT BARN is located on 78th street and Roosevelt Ave., Jackson Heights. They boast to be the provider of full-service meat and produce market. As I walked in, I took some of the pictures of meat they were providing. All of it was packed in the store and displayed.

The whole chicken costs $1.29/ lb.

The ground meat costs $2.98/ lb.

At the back of the store there was an area called custom meat cutting counter. As described by a butcher working there, he got shipments of meat, and that area was where he packs them in nice shiny plastic wrap, and weighs them to print a price tag for each meat. You can see the plastic trays at the top shelf on the left of the following picture.

As I walked out towards the cash register to interview the cashier, whom I assume to be the owner of the store, I was very happy to see these signs posted near the register.

When I finally spoke to the cashier about the meat, my first question was that where do you get your meat supply from. To which she replied the Food Nation. I asked her if it was like a meat packing plant's name, a factory farm, or what? She had a blank look on her face. She did not know what this company represented. I then gave her another option thinking that it must be it; is the Food Nation a distributing company. She said yes, it is. I asked her if she knew where do Food Nation bring their meat from? She said she DID NOT KNOW! She only knew that Food Nation provides them with the meat needed for the store. I found this very disturbing thinking that the people who pompously provide meat with a look of an old-style butcher waiting at the back of the store to custom cut your style of meat and pack it in nicely for you to take home and cook. They didn't really know what they were providing. Maybe an E coli infected meat was lying in that store somewhere waiting to be bought by a family and ruin thier lives forever.

It Is pricey!

Yesterday I was buying meat from the Halal Meat Shop that I go to. I kept on wondering what is the difference of prices between the regular meat available at grocery stores and the one I was buying from the designated to sell only Halal store. I took a photo of the table it was being cut at. It will look disgusting but atleast I am sure that my meat is cut infront of my eyes.

I just bought 2 pounds of ground goat meat. It cost me $3.97/lb. While I looked the price of meat online for the other kind that I dont eat, it was much higher! It was listed $5.35/lb on this website. Next I went inside their freezer to see how they keep the frozen meat. I was somewhat relieved to see that the meat that comes from Halal slaughterhouses arrives full in these stores. The slaughterhouse's job is to just slaughter them Halal, take off thier skin and ship them at Halal shops. It is then cut here infront of our eyes. They werent faking cutting it here.

All my ground beef was selected from the window in the top pic, it was then grounded in a machine right there. :D

The slaughter

Dhabihah is the recommended method by Islamic law of slaughtering any kind of animal excluding camels, locusts, fish, and most sea-life. The process consists of a swift, deep incision with a sharp knife across the neck, cutting the jugular veins and carotid arteries completely but leaving the spinal cord intact. Furthermore it causes all the blood from the animal to gush out leaving negligible amounts of blood remaining in the body, the principle being that blood is a good medium for germs. It is also forbidden to stun an animal before slaughter. It should be in conscious state. Keep in mind this is a ritual form of slaughtering, so the Islamic law recommends this as the most traditional way to slaughter an animal.

There isn’t any specific way of slaughter of these animals. There are huge factories that are run on machines periodically cutting the animal’s throat. In most cases an animal is stunned in electric water to avoid movement and force during the slaughter.

The difference

How distinguished is one from another?

To start up my project, I first want my readers to know exactly what Halal food is. By explaining what Halal really is, you will know exactly what is the difference between Halal and American way. In the following weeks, I will choose one topic of difference between these two kinds and explain it both ways. 

What is Halal?

Halal (ḥalāl; means lawful or legal) is a term designating any object or an action which is permissible to use or engage in, according to Islamic law (Sharia). It is the opposite of haraam.

Islam has laws regarding which foods can and cannot be eaten and also on the proper method of slaughtering an animal for consumption, known as dhabihah. Dabiha halal only requires that an animal survive on grass and leaves.

A variety of substances are considered as harmful (haraam) for humans to consume and, therefore, forbidden for Muslims:

• Pork (i.e., flesh of pig)
•  Blood
• Animals slaughtered in the name of anyone but Allah. All that has been dedicated or offered in sacrifice to an idolatrous altar or saint or a person considered to be "divine"
• Carrion (carcasses of dead animals)
• An animal that has been strangled, beaten (to death), killed by a fall, gored (to death), savaged by a beast of prey (except by a human)
• Food over which Allah's name is not pronounced (or at least not in a name other than Allah)
• Alcohol and other intoxicants

What is American way?

The animals eaten in the States consists of a lot of different animals that also include pork and deep sea animals. The way animals are bred and grown have drastically changed over the last 50 years. All animals are now kept indoors in factory farms where they aren’t really fed what their natural diet used to be; grass and grains. For example, cows are now given a corn diet to make them grow fatter faster.

The American Way

 For my weekly blog project I will point up the differences between the American way of treatment of animals compared to the Muslim way. Each week my readers will be educated with a lot of awareness of the food they consume. I will have comparisons of the way animals are kept, the workers, the way they are slaughtered, the conditions in which they live and so on so forth. I will try to provide pictures that show difference and maybe interviews from people in the related fields.

This project relates to our theme of the class a lot. I know that I am a purchaser of Halal food. I do not in any circumstances buy or eat any other kinds of meat. On the other hand, most of my classmates buy or eat the meat that these big American corporations grow. Through the knowledge I have of Halal food, I want to convince people to buy organic meat, which is a lot similar to Halal food in ways it is being grown (but not slaughtered the same way). I am learning a lot about how American technology and race for the best led to such harsh conditions of animals. I want to show that even though there is more faster need of meat, it can still be grown humanely.

With this weekly blog project I hope to learn a lot about food and compare to the one I consume. I know not everyone is aware of such kind of details of the food they eat too. Maybe with such a public platform as this blog website, together our whole class could make a difference to the food industry. Just like the African proverb goes, “If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping in a closed room with a mosquito.” Finally, I hope I can teach atleast something to others as well and help them become conscious of their food if not bring a revolution in the food industry. After all, “We are what we eat!”

    ( “, )

  (    .     )

    /    \