Halal ham? (updated)
Update: Muslims in Muslim countries don’t seem to have a problem selling pork to non-Muslims.
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Ham comes from a pig. Any meat that purports to be ham but which contains any meat other than pork is not ham. It might taste like ham and it might look like ham but it is not ham. Restaurants should not call any such product “ham” without using the quotations and clarifying what the mystery meat actually contains. The same is true of bacon. Have you had turkey “bacon”? Yech. If I ordered bacon and was given turkey “bacon” instead, I would be furious.
I would also include sausage and pepperoni in the “must be from pork” category. Although I realize that beef, lamb, and poultry sausages do exist, they are always labelled as such. No meat specified means that the sausage contains pork.
Does this even need to be explained? Yes it does.
H67 Donair is a restaurant in Saskatoon which serves sandwiches and pizza. Although their website doesn’t mention it, they are a halal restaurant. They are listed on the Saskatoon Muslim Foundation website as well as a halal site. Saskatoon has a growing Muslim population and I’m sure that there is growing demand for halal restaurants and groceries.
Whether a restaurant is halal or not most likely doesn’t matter to non-Muslims. I don’t care if the beef or chicken is halal or not although I’d rather not pay extra for halal if I have a choice.
In this situation, the halal designation does matter.
H67 sells pizza and their topics include ham, sausage, pepperoni, and bacon. Or should I say “ham”, “sausage”, “pepperoni”, and “bacon”? It’s all fake.
Here’s the explanation straight from the owner via an e-mail forwarded to me:
I think some misunderstanding about my business may have arisen because I have advertised “ham” toppings on certain pizzas. I want to assure you that this “ham” topping is actually composed of beef and chicken. This “ham” topping is a common name given to synthetic ham. This topping is mostly advertised towards the non-Muslims who frequent my business because most non-Muslims are expecting some sort of ham toppings on their pizza. However, I would like to fully assure the Muslim community of Saskatoon, that the “ham” and “pepperoni” that I sell are synthetic and are actually made of halal beef and halal chicken. This practise of selling halal pepperoni and halal ham are common practise in cities with larger Muslim communities. This is done so that a halal business can remain competitve with non-Muslim businesses. I regret not clearing this topic earlier, but I had assumed that the Muslims in Saskatoon would already be familiar with this concept.
Did you understand that? The halal restaurant calls the meat products ham and bacon and pepperoni so that non-Muslims will think that they are getting the real thing. Muslims will know the truth *wink, wink*.
The owners of H67 should clearly state on their menus that all products are made of beef and chicken. They should let their customers know that the ham and bacon are not real. Anything less than full disclosure is lying to their customers.
The word “ham” is a perfect example of how words can undergo various forms of transformations, in this sense, it would a change in the scope of the field of application.
That is, its meaning is becoming broader and broader, even to the extent to encompass beef.
Not to forget that the word “deer” in Shakespeare’s time meant something like any living animal in the forest, like a rodent and what not.
So yeah, maybe looking at it linguistically will clear your cobwebs. I would not connect it with religion (Is H67 not exercising a valid principle of business survival – adapting to locals and their respective norms?), instead, ignorance from the side of the Muslims who obviously are new to this country and never knew of how the word ham has come to be utilized.
H67 is lying to build and maintain business.
Ham is ham.
On this planet, ham is pork. Unless you call it turkey ham. Then it is turkey.
Wow, both of you completely disregarded the reality of language (words undergo CHANGE!!!). The change is facilitated by PEOPLE.
Or perhaps Muslims are not PEOPLE?
Deer meant rodent back in Shakespeare’s time (ring a bell?).
Muslims are not the only PEOPLE who do not eat pork. Consuming large portions of pork was more accepted in the south and in the 80s. People are more intelligent now.
The reality is that this business owner knows that he is intentionally misrepresenting his product to non-Muslims.
Did you read his statement?
He knows that non-Muslims purchasing pizza expect pork products. In order to satisfy their desire while still appeasing Muslims by maintaining his halal status, he sells a beef and chicken product while calling it “ham.”
Language does change over time but at this time the word “ham” means a cured pork product.
You and I can never really give a definition for a word, it is how society perceives a word’s definition that we come to know it.
Turkey bacon.
Exactly. I’m glad to see that you understand.
It’s “turkey bacon” which is distinguished from “bacon”.
The restaurant’s menu should say “beef/chicken ham”, “beef pepperoni”, “turkey bacon”, and “beef sausage”.
Our society perceives “ham” to be pork. Even the Muslims here perceive “ham” to be pork which is why the owner had to issue a clarification to Muslims. If he were honest on his menu, both Muslims and non-Muslims would know exactly what they were ordering. Everyone would know the truth.
it doesn’t matter…..be healthy
I don’t know, does the need to survive in this world necessitate giving non halal names to halal products. If you call something what it isn’t and say it is that or something like it, I believe it amounts to lying. Even worse a lie to liken something to haram. personally I don’t quite feel safe but pray Allah helps us and saves us from this time we’re in.
What time is it that we are in? A time when Muslims tell lies to trick the infidels?
Your debate is ridiculous. Most of the people posting are caucasian christains. I’d hate to break it to you but Christains are not suppose to eat ham/pork whatever either. Read your own “old testament” it was removed due to popularity of the meat and it distinguished Christainity from Islam (Muslims) and Judiasm (Jews). I guess ignorant people like eating animals that roil around in dirt and their own sh*t all day. Let’s not forget that pork has the highest levels of uric acid, cholesterol and fat. A little chicken or turkey wont kill your enormous and ever expanding waistlines. Unless you’d like to continue your expedited journey to your shallow tomb?
Bacon is good.
And I don’t actually have my own “old testament”. Do you?
I just ordered a pizza from a halal pizza shop and it mentioned halal ham and pepperoni in its menu. I had to google it to find out what this meant.
the “halal” word in few restaurants such in H67 means that it has Halal meat. what a lot of restaurant do as a mistake is putting “halal” word instead of saying we have Halal meat. That what usually happen.
The mistake is in not telling non-Muslims that “halal” means that the “bacon” and “ham” are completely fake and that the pepperoni and sausage are not pork.
If a word is not understood one should look it up. It’s labeled which is good enough. Knowing it’s definition is up to us intelligent people.
I actually really enjoy Turkey Bacon! I just ordered Hawaiian “Style” Pizza from a Halal Restaurant, and specifically asked how their pizzas could have “ham” and “bacon,” and they told me it was all made from beef. I thought I’d try it anyway, and it was actually really good! So don’t be afraid to try order pizzas from Halal restaurants. You’ll probably be pleasantly surprised.
Yea Michelle sounds pretty unintelligent here….
This argument is so pointless that I had to write this reply to re-emphasise what everyone has thus far been saying in their posts too….Basically you’re not cool with H67′s definition of Ham and their efforts to keep things Halal. You then have a simple choice, STOP GOING THERE! There’s a million restaurants out there in town that will get you the real pork deal by the 100s of pounds.
I am from UK and all Halal pizza shops use hal ham and halal becon. It is very common here and all Muslim know this. So there is no need to wory about Halal Ham , it fine and perfect for muslims.
I’m not completely understanding why the writer of this site is so upset about not being given pork. The pig wasn’t created for human consumption except under dire conditions. Read any holy book. Eating turkey ham and turkey pepperoni is healthier for you. Further more there are many brands of turkey bacon and some are delicious, however beef bacon tastes the same as pork. It has the same salt and texture and everything. Be open minded. Live longer
Bunch of stupids. Ham and sausages are not exclusively porky. By definition, a ham comes from a cured leg of an animal. The fact that it is most often pig, is irrelevant. A sausage is just a style of preparation of meat. Beef sausages are common, even in non-halal establishments. Similarly from pepperoni. You should get off your high horse of what you are used to, and learn the definitions. The only case I would say is clear example of of misleading, is the use of bacon, where it by definition comes from a pig.