An Intro to Halal Meat

So we went to the market across from Khan el-Khalili the other day. I swear by the end of my stay in Cairo, I will know everyone at the market. I've made friends with some amazing people already(see the past post on Khan el-Khalili part 2), and this time some of the shop keepers greeted me with "welcome back".  Four of us girls went out for a day of exploring and picture taking.

Where to begin....how about the markets that sell live animals and those that have animal carcases hanging from meet hooks outside. Listen, I lived in China and definitely saw some nasty stuff there, but the smell of raw meet hanging in the heat of Cairo can really make you gag(and I did). So we found this place that had camel meat hanging outside.






These other places had live animals that I'm sure they can slaughter there for you. Its smells so gross, but I have noticed that meat in Egypt tastes so much better than meat in the states. Meat in Egypt tends to be halal, including McDonald's. The meat is ridiculously fresh.

For those who don't know what halal means..  The goal is to slaughter the animal, limiting the amount of pain the animal will endure. Followers are not to consume :

• pork or pork by products
• animals that were dead prior to slaughtering
• animals not slaughtered properly or not slaughtered in the name of Allah
• blood and blood by products
• alcohol
• carnivorous animals
• birds of prey
• land animals without external ears

I'll post more on food and drinks later.