VTMBH Article: Body
After the outbreak of mad cow disease in Europe, people of all religions in America became more interested in consuming Halal meat. (Halal is a process of breeding and slaughtering birds and animals in an Islamic way, similar to kosher meat.)
Aslam Sheikh, the founder of Halal Pride Chicken Farm in Holmes County, Ohio, explained the upturn in demand to Bangla Patrika.
Halal Pride Chicken recently entered the New York market, though the demand for chicken on his farm comes from the Midwest, Northeast and Southeast. Less than half the demand, Sheikh estimated, comes from Muslims. Most buyers are non-Muslims, Sheikh said. Members of other communities buy Halal chicken for health reasons, he speculated.
The poultry cluster farm is under the supervision of 70 Amish families in Ohio. The families raise chickens in their family farms naturallyno artificial hormones or other additives are used. The chickens are free from animal byproducts like pork fat, intestines or any other unholy things.
Only soybeans and vegetables are used to feed the chickens, making them more lean. Sheik said that his soft and tender fleshy chicken is unparalleled in taste and smell.
Sheikh, who is more than sixty years old, long dreamt of a poultry farm where everything, from the laying of eggs to the slaughtering of chickens, is done in a Halal way, so that he can supply Halal products to all chicken lovers and especially Muslims. He said that today his dream has been realized.
Born in Kenya, Sheikh and moved to London, where he worked at a Halal chicken supplier. He came to the United States in 1967. There were not so many Muslims in the United States at that time, he said. I used to go to Columbia University to say Eid prayer, and I found only 18 persons present offering prayer.
So in the beginning of his life in United States, there was a delay in his dream of processing Halal chicken. At that time he opened the Curry in a Hurry restaurant on Lexington Avenue, which is now run by a Bangladeshi. He stayed in the restaurant business until 1971, when he imported garments for the Banroo company. After the recession in the late 1980s forced Banroo to close, Sheikh returned to chicken production.
Meanwhile, the Muslim population had increased all over New York and other places. In Ohio, in 1988, he began a Halal chicken farm and started marketing Halal meat.
Though trained as a textile engineer, this old man has spent most of his life pursuing his objective to produce Halal chicken. On one of many road trips, he discovered some Amish families and taught them how to raise and slaughter Halal chickens.
I could not even find the time to get married. But I have 11 brothers and sisters, who all live in the United States, and my family is everything in my life.
Aslam Sheikh, the founder of Halal Pride Chicken Farm in Holmes County, Ohio, explained the upturn in demand to Bangla Patrika.
Halal Pride Chicken recently entered the New York market, though the demand for chicken on his farm comes from the Midwest, Northeast and Southeast. Less than half the demand, Sheikh estimated, comes from Muslims. Most buyers are non-Muslims, Sheikh said. Members of other communities buy Halal chicken for health reasons, he speculated.
The poultry cluster farm is under the supervision of 70 Amish families in Ohio. The families raise chickens in their family farms naturallyno artificial hormones or other additives are used. The chickens are free from animal byproducts like pork fat, intestines or any other unholy things.
Only soybeans and vegetables are used to feed the chickens, making them more lean. Sheik said that his soft and tender fleshy chicken is unparalleled in taste and smell.
Sheikh, who is more than sixty years old, long dreamt of a poultry farm where everything, from the laying of eggs to the slaughtering of chickens, is done in a Halal way, so that he can supply Halal products to all chicken lovers and especially Muslims. He said that today his dream has been realized.
Born in Kenya, Sheikh and moved to London, where he worked at a Halal chicken supplier. He came to the United States in 1967. There were not so many Muslims in the United States at that time, he said. I used to go to Columbia University to say Eid prayer, and I found only 18 persons present offering prayer.
So in the beginning of his life in United States, there was a delay in his dream of processing Halal chicken. At that time he opened the Curry in a Hurry restaurant on Lexington Avenue, which is now run by a Bangladeshi. He stayed in the restaurant business until 1971, when he imported garments for the Banroo company. After the recession in the late 1980s forced Banroo to close, Sheikh returned to chicken production.
Meanwhile, the Muslim population had increased all over New York and other places. In Ohio, in 1988, he began a Halal chicken farm and started marketing Halal meat.
Though trained as a textile engineer, this old man has spent most of his life pursuing his objective to produce Halal chicken. On one of many road trips, he discovered some Amish families and taught them how to raise and slaughter Halal chickens.
I could not even find the time to get married. But I have 11 brothers and sisters, who all live in the United States, and my family is everything in my life.