Halal Chicken Showdown on Devon

By Laura Oppenheimer in Food on Jan 4, 2007 7:00PM

Two fast food restaurants have opened halal outposts on Devon St, creating competition over whose chicken is the best and whose chicken is more halal. Kentucky Fried Chicken and Brown's Chicken and Pasta are battling it out for the hearts, minds and stomachs of observant Muslim fried chicken eaters. But not everyone is a fan.

The problem stems from a less-than-precise definition of halal. Halal refers to what is permitted under Muslim law for consumption, but custom dictates much of how it is followed. Precise guidelines are hard to come by. So when Afzal Lokhandwala first opened a halal KFC in Lombard three years ago, he faced a storm of criticism. The chicken purchased by Lokhandwala was machine slaughtered, not hand-slaughtered according to zabigagh. "Zabihah calls for the animal to be blessed, then slaughtered, its throat cut and blood drained. But Muslims are divided about whether that can be reconciled with poultry-plant practices of machine-slaughter and stunning the animal before slaughter." According to Lokhandwala, in Malaysia, machine slaughtered chicken is permitted, so both his Lombard and Devon St. franchises should be accepted as halal.

Meanwhile, the Brown's Chicken, which opened in August, decided to eschew all controversy over their chicken by picking the most zabigah producer they could find. Mohammad Yaqoob, one of the owners of the Brown's on Devon told the Trib that people in Chicago are conservative: "They want to eat zabihah, not just halal."

We are going to stay neutral on this one, only adding that anything is delicious when it is batter-dipped and deep fried. As long is it isn't fried in oil with trans-fats. Then it may someday be illegal.