What if you did not see your childhood comfort food on your dinner table? Not because you couldn’t find the ingredients, or because they were not accessible, but because they, despite being plentiful, were not permissible for you to eat.
TEFAP stands for Temporary Emergency Food Assistance Program. This federal program helps to distribute food to food pantries and non-profit organizations around the country. Families can then go to their local food pantries and food distribution site and then request items or ingredients they want on their dinner tables.
Muslims and Jewish people with specific dietary restrictions often find it harder to source ingredients that meet their needs, specifically meat. Because religious restrictions demand that meat go through a set course of treatment in both religions, despite chicken and beef being plentiful, it is not permissible for consumption.
ICNA Council for Social Justice is working with ICNA Relief and other major hunger relief organizations to bring Halal and Kosher meat products to TEFAP. The infrastructure for large-scale kosher and halal meat distribution exists, and it is imperative that government safety nets are accessible to everyone.
Here is what you can do for this important cause:
Call your congressional representative and ask them to sign on to the Dear Colleague letter published by Representative Grace Meng’s office.
This letter will be sent to USDA Secretary Vilsack in the coming weeks asking him to team with Halal and Kosher distributors to make sure that all families struggling with food insecurity have culturally competent meals on their table.
Remember, some of our most pressing social justice issues are hidden beneath the surface, and may not reach be #trending. We leave you with this question: while scrolling through pages of yelp reviews trying to find a restaurant that takes your dietary restrictions into consideration, have you ever thought about how people with those same restrictions can access food if they don’t have the resources?
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