kosher & halal

[ANNE V. GILBERT]

Laurence:

> Then you must observe the Hindu dietary laws.   ;-)

NOpe.  Just Irish ones  >:-)

> Both London and Manchester--and I imagine other large British
> cities--have a goodly subset of Muslim inhabitants, most but not all
> of them from Pakistan and India.  There are quite a number of little
> store-front places serving wonderful pitas with lamb, chicken, and
> vegetarian-style fillings and spicy sauces, where there's no
> wait-staff and you sit at the counter or small tables (or get it as
> take-out, or whatever the British word for that is) and the Halal
> certification indicates that the food is acceptable for those who
> observe the Islamic dietary laws (and equally tasty for the rest of
> us).
> P.S.  Maybe the problem is that we're using "fast-food places"
> differently--I'm not thinking McDonald's or Blimpie, but independent
> places, run (I imagine) by the owners or their relatives, not by
> franchisees.

Oh, I know exactly the kind of places you're referring to. We have those
sorts of places in Seattle, but they aren't usually run by people from India
and Pakistan, although there are plenty of those around.  There are a lot of
little Mexican places, some Asian(e.g. Thai, etc.), and at least one place
where  you can get "takeout" gyros and the like.  That place is Middle
Eastern, but I don't think it has any halal certificates hanging around(but
then I haven't really visited the place, even though it's about a block from
where I work). They're usually family-run, and the people who run them are
some of the nicest people I've ever met.  And the food is good, too.
Anne G