Muslims (and Halal food) in BA ?

Zein Cafe in Las Canitas (Arce 480 I believe) is a small Arabic cafe/restaurant with wonderful Arabic halal food. Not fancy or expensive but good. The men there are from Syria (my family's country) and I go there when I am missing my mom's home cooking.
As for a "parrilla" restaurant with Halal meat, you won't find it. The Arab Medical Conference was here in December and members asked me where to go for Parrilla and Halal. I called the Mosque and some Halal butchers and they said it doesn't exists. If you want Halal meat on the BBQ you have to get it and cook it yourself. For Argentine Parrilla Halal meat..not in this city..
A wonderful Halal butcher named Abdul Rahim or Rahman has a small little carniceria on Azcuenga 700 or so. Between Cordoba and San Luis. Blink and you miss it..the front is a small market but the back is the meat. He is really nice and the meat is good..
Good luck...
 
Heisenberg said:
1. Do these numbers seem right? Is it that most of the people classed as Muslims have Muslim ancestry but are not really practising (e.g. Carlos Menem, who I think eventually converted to Catholocism)? In which case the lack of prominence would make sense. If not, where are they all?
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It's kind of hard to tell Muslim men from other Argentine men, since they both like to sport several weeks of unshaven beard and Argentines like to toast themselves brown in the summer. :D
 
I am a huge Arab food fan and I know of 2 restaurants from which you have an a convenient "online delivery" option: there's the one mentioned by someone else called Habibi, and Chef Iusef.

I've also heard great things about La Alhambra (also mentioned by someone previously) but I've never been there.

Hope this helps in some way!
 
There are plenty of Kosher places, and from what I understand, that passes muster. (Or is it "passes mustard"?)

There's a soccer coach named Muhammed (spelling may vary). He might have some ideas.
 
Napoleon, don't forget about seineldin! He seems to be part muslim and part na*i!

Heisenberg : Maybe you'd like to take the chef or maitre or owner to an aside and specify you are a practicing Muslim and want halal food. In more thn a couple of Syrian (Muslim) places I've seen blood dripping from the meatbags as they hauled them in .... not a pleasant sight, and talks volumes about their piousness, or lack of thereof.

There are many "Turcos" (Lebanese-Syrians that arrived while the Ottoman Empire still existed) but many are Coptic Christian, otherwise Christian, or assimilated.

The North, Santiago del Estero particularly, seems to be where many finally migrated, but I don't know if they retained the religion. I've heard stories of "the way grandpa used to pray" as different from Catholic, but that's it.

Your best bet to get "white" meat might be Religious Jewish establishments as both religions share very similar taboos - and there's a reason for that. Head to Once (Balvanera-Almagro)

BTW nobody will notice your muslimness, you'll feel just like everybody else, so maybe you could use this time to explore apostasy....
 
Heisenberg said:
Apparently about 2% of the population in Argentina is Muslim. This seems a bit odd to me as apart from the big mosque in Palermo, I hardly saw any Muslim influence in the capital / around the country when I visited four years ago. Especially when you compare it with UK, where 3% are Muslims and are very prominent. So...

1. Do these numbers seem right? Is it that most of the people classed as Muslims have Muslim ancestry but are not really practising (e.g. Carlos Menem, who I think eventually converted to Catholocism)? In which case the lack of prominence would make sense. If not, where are they all?

2. What kind of attitude exists towards Muslims in Argentina - or are most people fairly ambivalent?
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Alrighty, I'm going to leave part 3 because it has been answered extensively already but to answer your first two questions:

1. Yeah, the numbers seem right. Again, it depends on who answers to the question and how. Most people don't care nor talk about religion with each other.

2. Like I said, no one gives a crap as long as you don't force your beliefs on others.

Now, as for why Muslims aren't so prominent like they are in Britain. Well the simplest answer to that is that they came to Argentina to actually start over and build better lives for them (as opposed to the crap they had to put up with in Syria, Lebanon, or whatever else). Now, after a couple of generations, they have become part of the Argentine society. They are (and basically all Argentines are) Argentines first and foremost, and in many cases only Argentine (and no other identity, they don't even like being called "Latinos"). The moment any Muslim starts imposing their religion on others (like the idiotic posters of "Shariah Zone" in London), it'd be safer and better for them to be on a plane out to Saudi Arabia on the next available flight.

Now as for Halal food, I am sure you'll find plenty of places claiming to have Halal food. But just like the rest of us don't give a crap if someone is a Muslim or not, Muslims themselves here don't give much of a crap about Islam or any other Muslim rituals. So eat "Halal" food at your own risk while you're here.
 
nicoenarg said:
it'd be safer and better for them to be on a plane out to Saudi Arabia on the next available flight.

Now as for Halal food, I am sure you'll find plenty of places claiming to have Halal food. But just like the rest of us don't give a crap if someone is a Muslim or not, Muslims themselves here don't give much of a crap about Islam or any other Muslim rituals. So eat "Halal" food at your own risk while you're here.
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If the crowds you're referring to enjoyed a Royal Saudi passport why would they be in London in the first place? fear of sunlight?

Your point about fake halal is very true, nobody in these bountiful Pampas gives an effing fly about fundamentals, and fake sacred meat as a scam as old as the mitzvah.

The only people who have tried to force their beliefs on me while in Argentina were 6-year-old YHWS' witnesses, Missionaries from Utah, and naturally this message board. Your assumption that a Muslim would try to force his beliefs could be seen as rather offensive. :cool:
 
Matt84 said:
If the crowds you're referring to enjoyed a Royal Saudi passport why would they be in London in the first place? fear of sunlight?

Your point about fake halal is very true, nobody in these bountiful Pampas gives an effing fly about fundamentals, and fake sacred meat as a scam as old as the mitzvah.

The only people who have tried to force their beliefs on me while in Argentina were 6-year-old YHWS' witnesses, Missionaries from Utah, and naturally this message board. Your assumption that a Muslim would try to force his beliefs could be seen as rather offensive. :cool:
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If I cared about people getting offended, I wouldn't have written my post. I am answering the OP's question from my perspective. If he doesn't like it or gets offended, that's not important to me. I have said what I have said, you can take whatever you want from it.
 
Thanks everyone, for taking the time to apply. I appreciate all the food recommendations in particular.

A quick reply to one comment:

"They are (and basically all Argentines are) Argentines first and foremost, and in many cases only Argentine (and no other identity, they don't even like being called "Latinos"). The moment any Muslim starts imposing their religion on others".

That's the thing you see, now there are Muslims who don't care, there are those who do and like to impose themselves, and then there are lots like me who are in the middle. Most Muslims (arguably) in Britain are in this middle category, but perhaps it's the case that in Argentina the majority are in the 'don't care' category and just class themselves as Argentines. That would make sense then as to why they are not as noticeable.

Sorry to go off topic / bore everyone, and thanks again for helping out.
 
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