Whatever happened to brown-bagging it to school?
Apparently, that’s no longer good enough. And if City Councilman Rafael Espinal (D-Brooklyn) has his way, the city’s public schools will not only have to provide hot lunches but hot halal lunches for Muslim students.
Like kosher food for observant Jews, halal has strict requirements regarding what is acceptable and how it is prepared. One requirement is that halal food not come into contact with non-halal food or utensils.
Which is why the Department of Education says its kitchens and kitchen staff “are not equipped to customize meals and other specialty foods” — not just halal, but also kosher and other religiously based meals.
Yes, Muslims make up a growing percentage of New York City public-school students, and no child should go hungry. But schools already offer vegetarian and non-meat alternatives. And brown-bag lunches remain an even simpler and more practical solution.
Moreover, fewer and fewer students of any religion are even eating cafeteria food. A Government Accounting Office report released in January showed a nationwide decline of 1.6 million participants in the federal school-lunch program. On top of this, some of New York’s highest achieving schools — yes, charters — rely largely on kids to brown bag it.
Point is, city schools are simply not prepared — financially or operationally — to offer specialty food like kosher and halal. Government is obligated to protect religious observance — not to provide it.
Bring back the bologna sandwich.