Editorial: Adding halal foods to Market Central commendable

The Pitt community is on its way to becoming just a little bit closer. The Pitt community is on its way to becoming just a little bit closer.

Market Central, the main hub of on-campus dining, unveiled yesterday a new flair to its fare: halal foods. Communication between the Student Government Board’s Food Committee, the Muslim Student Association and Sodexo led to the new implementation. You can read The Pitt News’ coverage here.

Halal foods adhere to Islamic dietary guidelines and are subject to a special process of slaughtering animals that is thought to be more humane. The fare will appear at Magellan’s Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

This is a big step for Pitt dining. Including halal foods consistently on campus gives students options they didn’t have before. If Pitt wants to be inclusive to religious groups, we think it should go ahead — representing student groups and catering to students’ needs is necessary at such a large campus. Efforts like these form bonds between students and reinforce the idea that we really aren’t lost in the sea of blue and gold. Students deserve to get what they pay for, and that’s nourishing food they can actually eat.

Market has done a great job addressing students’ dining needs in the past by including gluten-free fare, vegetarian options and fish on Fridays. And now, Muslim students can enjoy a much wider variety of halal foods at their dining hall.

The success of the new fare is obvious — students devoured most of the servings in less than an hour. And adding Halal food to a Magellan’s menu already rife with varied dishes is a worthy choice.

Halal foods aren’t limited to just Market Central either. Halal groceries will now be sold at Quick Zone, the small on-campus grocery store. This will save Muslim students time and money, as well as provide them with more food options. College is a time to discover oneself, and what better way to celebrate and experience one’s heritage than sampling the many foods it offers? Non-Muslim students will also be able to try foods they otherwise would have little access to.

Although we praise Market’s newest installation, we also encourage it to make sure that it is addressing the needs of its customers. It should be certain that students with any number of dietary restrictions are being catered to, and it should not opt to represent one group over another. Again, Market does a great job of addressing student needs, but we’d like to see the communication between the student body and Sodexo continue even after this recent success.

Celebrating many cultures is what’s fun about being part of Pitt’s large, diverse community. Yesterday’s unveiling featured balloons colored red, white, green and black — predominant colors in the flags of many Middle Eastern countries — and Middle Eastern music. Essentially, Market brought a bit of Middle Eastern Islamic culture to Pitt.

Pitt students should be both tolerant and knowledgeable about other cultures, and Market employs food as a teaching device in disguise. And we think if students can come together on one thing, it’s food.