Dartmouth Joining Hallal-Kosher Campus Dining Trend

HANOVER, N.H., March 15 (AP) -- The Torah and the Quran provide gastronomic inspiration for Dartmouth College's newest dining hall.

For Yousuf Haque, however, inspiration also comes from a simpler source: being sick of tuna fish sandwiches. And regular twinges of guilt.

``When you see that you can eat lawful meat, it's a big relief,'' said Haque, a junior who is president of the Dartmouth's Muslim student association, Al-Nur. ``I think people will really go for it.''

For Muslims like Haque, lawful meat means meat slaughtered under Islamic dietary laws called halal.

For Jews, dietary laws and rules are called kashrut, or kosher. Come September, Dartmouth will join a growing number of colleges and universities offering kosher- and halal-prepared meals for its students.

Moreover, at Dartmouth, not only will the college offer its Jewish and Muslim students kosher and halal foods, it will build a single, separate facility, outfit it with separate dishwashers, stoves, counters and dishes, and hire and specifically train kitchen staff. It will cook and serve kosher and halal foods together.

Halal lasagna. Kosher chicken soup. Halal pizza. Kosher sandwiches.

``First of all and most importantly, it just makes sense,'' said Jason Spitalnick, a junior who was president last fall of the Dartmouth Jewish student organization Hillel and helped spearhead the effort for a kosher-halal dining hall. ``The dietary laws are virtually identical.''

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