Halal at UNC
Our two main residential dining halls, Top of Lenoir and Chase, offer a number of halal-friendly options. At each station, we have LED digital screens that display what we are serving, the nutritional information, ingredients, flags for the top 9 allergens and dietary preferences, including halal.
- Simply Prepared Station – Chase Dining Hall: You can find halal protein at least seven times a week served at Chase dining hall’s Simply Prepared station during lunch and dinner. This currently includes halal chicken thighs, chicken breast, lamb leg, brisket, and bone-in chicken.
- Mainstreet at Bottom of Lenoir: Our retail partner, Mediterranean Deli, offers certified halal proteins.
You can also find this information on our online menu (dining.unc.edu > menus & hours). The website page also has an interactive filter where you can set specific rules, such as ‘Halal’ to find foods that meet your dietary needs and preferences. We offer several vegan, vegetarian, and pescatarian-friendly dishes which could be halal-friendly.
Trout salmon, mahi, and tuna are on our menu sporadically throughout the week, and all of our vegetable sides are cooked with oil, vegan margarine, or are steamed. We understand that some ingredients may contain trace amounts of alcohol, such as soy sauce, extracts, and rice vinegar, however, those will be listed online, and you may choose to not have those items. At our made-to-order stations, rice vinegar and soy sauce are occasionally used, but you can request to omit them as they are preparing your meal. Additionally, you may ask for a clean pan if you are concerned about cross contact. To reduce the risk of cross-contact with non-Halal meats, we use color coordinated serving utensils at other stations throughout the dining hall. At the pizza station, we have separate color-coordinated pizza cutters for our pepperoni, vegetarian, and vegan pizzas.
Partnerships
After consulting with the Muslim Student Association (MSA) last year, we defined halal menu items as those that include halal-certified meat and exclude pork products, including gelatin, and cooking alcohol.
Another result of our collaboration with UNC’s MSA is that we added halal-friendly options every day and offer to-go options during Dinner and Late Night (Sunday through Thursday) at Chase during Ramadan. This is done to ensure Muslim students can eat a meal after breaking their fasts during the month of Ramadan. After learning that dates are traditionally eaten to break a fast, we started providing them at the entrance of Chase during Ramadan. We plan to continue to provide these accommodations in the coming years.
Click here to see CDS’s Halal Brochure:
For more information or questions about Halal at UNC, please submit at the bottom of our Carolina Dining Services Nutrition webpage for the quickest response.
Want to learn more about the Muslim Student Association (MSA)?
View their website here: http://www.uncmsa.org/