After the 2016 presidential elections brought a 57 percent rise in anti-Semitic incidents and a 91 percent rise in anti-Muslim hate crimes, Mohammad Modarres decided to bring his Muslim and Jewish friends and other allies together to discuss how to tackle the wave of bigotry.
Interfaith Ventures, his incubator that promotes religious unity and dialogue through inclusive events, and Abe’s Meats, whose products follow both kosher and halal dietary laws, were born of his desire for inclusiveness.
“As a child who grew up in post-9/11 America, I felt an incredible sense of responsibility to act so that no one would face what my immediate family and Muslim community had to deal with in the aftermath of 9/11,” he says.
Modarres will share his vision as he sits on the Disrupt or Be Disrupted panel at the Winter Fancy Food Show, on Jan. 15 at 9 a.m. He recently discussed his endeavors with Specialty Food News.
Tell me about Interfaith Ventures.
Interfaith Ventures was born out of the radical notion that we are all part of one crazy family with a common set of universal values that guide us to be happy, productive members of our communities. These merits are reflected in our faiths. Around the world, people teach these principles in different forms—through the life of Christ, from the stories of the Quran, by practicing ahimsa, and so on. We collaborate with various social profit organizations to produce products and programs that help people see the commonalities that exist between our complex identities. The Shabbat Salaam interfaith dinner series is our flagship program, which has been hosted from San Francisco to New York’s Times Square. Over 1,000 attendees have participated in our interfaith programming in the last year.
What is the conversation like during your Shabbat Salaam interfaith dinners?
Because we serve Zabihah Halal and Glatt Kosher “Interfaith Meat”—practicing the most orthodox dietary laws to bring together all denominations of Islam and Judaism—we invite everyone to break bread with us. Each dinner attracts a more diverse community than the one before it with participants bringing new conversations to the table. Some events may be led by a series of questions such as “What is your spiritual autobiography?” while others may be led by a particular facilitator’s theme. My favorite dinner so far was a Shabbat Salaam Show Tunes event last April, which was organized by Fearless Communicators Founder and actor Eduardo Placer. In no time, children, young professionals, and everyone in between were twirling to ABBA’s Dancing Queen among other classics played by a live piano player. Now that’s how you spend a Friday night!
When did you launch Abe’s Meats and why have Interfaith Meats only recently come to be?
Despite similarities in faith-based dietary restrictions between Muslims and Jews (e.g., same constraints for pork and shellfish), no venture has produced meat products approved for both communities. The root of this separation stems from generations of theological, political, and financial differences and at times, contention. As a result, most Halal and Kosher meat products are very niche, very expensive (for all parties involved across the supply chain), abundant in waste, low-quality/unhealthy, and inaccessible for the growing Muslim and Jewish consumers here in the US. By creating meat that combines Muslim and Jewish dietary laws, we show that thousands of years of religious practices can merge. At Shabbat Salaam interfaith dinners our attendees are enamored by the concept of “Interfaith Meat.” After learning about the production process, they ask “what else can we bring together?”
premiered Interfaith Meat at our first Shabbat Salaam in 2017. When we were offered the opportunity to move to New York City for the TED Residency, it became clear that Interfaith Meat could be used as a larger tool to promote interfaith unity and dialogue. Shortly after, Abe’s Meats was born.
Are faith-based meats hard to come by in certain regions?
Yes, accessibility is an issue for faith-based foods. While following religious dietary laws inside the home is possible in many parts of urban America, few spaces allow the Muslim or Jewish consumer to have the same experiences as the general consumer when they go to a concert or catch a basketball game. We know representation matters on screen so why shouldn’t it in the military, university, or hospital cafeteria?
Our research shows that these consumers are not only being denied the opportunity to have “the full experience” because of a lack of accessibility, but have also been denied good food. In spaces where faith-based foods are available, these meals are low-quality, poorly produced, and branded by older brands that do not follow food trends demanded by the general consumer. At Abe’s, we take incredible pride in offering foods that have a positive social, economic, and ecological impact, while using our brand to reflect our mission to make high-quality religious foods more accessible, nutritious, and delicious for all.
I understand that you promote sustainability via regenerative agriculture techniques and other means. Please explain.
As a former public health practitioner, I am committed to producing food the right way. While industrialized factory farming methods for meat have polluted our watersheds and decimated our carbon soil to add to the challenges of climate change, regenerative agriculture uses techniques that help combat climate change issues and even positively impact our environment. Through a series of methods—from silvopasture and animal integration, to no-till farming and managed grazing—we are producing high-quality meats, while helping our ecology become more diverse and versatile. Yet whether it's quinoa or coffee, no food can be sustainable if it is overconsumed. This is why we are the first meat company to promote eating less, better meat.
Is there anything more you’d like to share?
We are always looking for people who want to collaborate with us on creative projects. In fact, our next program is called Cut The Beef. It will be an online cooking show that will bring Muslim and Jewish comedians to cook together (and poke fun at each other). Got a chef (or comedian or producer) who you think would want to join in on the fun? Give us a shout!
from Specialty Food News https://ift.tt/2EdpRRN
No comments: