Someone put sausage in the spaghetti.

[Grace Seeker]

I need some advice regarding an event that happened yesterday.

Our church glad hosts the high school boys football team for a pre-game meal every Thursday. The boys come here after practice and we serve them spaghetti. We've been doing this all season, but the first night just as we are getting ready to serve, one of the moms who was helping said that one of the boys wouldn't eat it because it had meat in it. I asked what she meant, was the boy a vegatarian. And she said no, he's Muslim. Well, that didn't make sense to me, so I just went and asked the boy and he said that the spaghetti which had beef hamburger in it was fine, he just didn't eat pork. And of course I understood that much. So, we've been serving it that way the last several weeks.

Well, last night someone new fixed the spaghetti sauce and into the 20 pounds of meat sauce, they added a little bit of pork sausage. I just found out today.

Would it be more kind of me to keep quiet and just be sure it doesn't happen again? Or would it be better that I let him know, now, after the fact, when it is too late to do anything about it?

 

[Sampharo]

Tricky one.

Islamically speaking he isn't at fault since he didn't know what he ate. Catering-wise though you're responsible for providing food that don't violate someone's diet rules. This could have been serious if someone was allergic to an ingredient.

If you don't tell it is dishonest and invites lack of care regarding this in the future, if not by you then by someone else. If you do you might isolate the boy and create a situation of mistrust where he refuses to eat again or his parents tell him to do so.

I have to go with "tell him", and make it very clear that it was an honest mistake and that's why you're letting them know, and how you've taken measures to not let it happen again (I am sure you'll now inform every new volunteer that there are ingredients not to be used to cater for the kids.) They have a right to know about it, and I believe they will appreciate your efforts and the situation will be resolved.

 

[Sari]

He shouldn't be eating any meat at all unless it is halaal meat. Is any of the meat halaal? Pork will always be haraam though.

And if the consumer didn't know it was haraam, then it's best to leave it as they get no sin and would only feel bad.

 

[suffiyan007]

some people can allergic to something...like beef,nuts,eggs and etc...so if the boy dont eat dont force him....he got his rights...so if u non-muslim dont cook the food with same cutlery,same cooking pan, same cooking wok and etc...
so buy the new one for the muslim boy...so he eat with no guilty......dont mix up pork and the halal meat...:nervous:

 

[S_87]

hmmm the beef hamburger is a no no to him too...but regarding your question, what if they do it again?

 

[YusufNoor]

NOT a fatwa...


it seems it would be easiest to treat the boy as a vegetarian. either keep a little onion & garlic spag sauce handy [MOST canned sauces will tell you if there is meat* in there] or make him a nice halal scampi sauce. some butter and garlic, saute, but do NOT brown the garlic [makes it bitter.] add some grape [NOT red/purple] juice and toss in some Parmesan cheese. toss the spag in there and serve topped with more parm.

keep it simple, but avoid complicated issues.

:wa:


* the amusing thing is, if you see MEAT in big letters on a spag sauce, you need to look for the tiny writing above that says "flavored with!"

 

[Grace Seeker]

Thank-you all for your advice. I told him and apologized both to him and his parents. They told me not to worry about it. They understood it was an honest mistake. I guess he and his family don't worry about whether the beef for the hamburger is "halal" beef or not, not even at home. Maybe because halal foods aren't marketed in our area or maybe because they just don't care. I don't know. But given that that is their practice, I figure that aspect of it is their concern. For our part, to make sure it doesn't happen again, I'm reminding our cook each week that it needs to be all-beef and no pork in the meat sauce -- we make everything from scratch except the spaghetti noodles themselves. Like me, our cook this week hadn't even known that Max was Muslim or he surely wouldn't have added the pork. Have to learn to be more aware of how diverse we are, even in small midwestern towns.


edit:
Also, I have to admit that I must be a bit more pre-judging than I thought. I never would have guessed Max as a Muslim name. But then I also know a Muslim named Steve, so I just need to quit thinking in stereotypcial terms.

 

[glo]

Perhaps you should put on that apron and get cooking yourself, Grace Seeker!