As a dissertation project to obtain a Master’s Degree in Anthropology at ISCTE-IUL, I carried out fieldwork in Odivelas, Portugal, where, for around 8 months, I followed the unprecedented program of the Municipal Council of Odivelas (MCO) to implement halal meals in the municipality’s public school system. Never before implemented in Portugal, the MCO program aimed to meet the dietary needs of muslim students by reinforcing, through food, the sociocultural and religious inclusion, as well as the school integration, of members of the local muslim community.

To better understand the dynamics in which this pioneering program was born, a brief contextualization of the concept of Halal and the community through which the program grew is necessary.

The term Halal (derived from the arabic meaning “permitted”) is in constant contrast with its opposite, Haram (derived from the arabic meaning “illegal”). This duality, between what is permitted and prohibited, is closely linked to the daily decisions and ways of being and perceiving the world of the muslim interlocutors with whom I had the opportunity to speak. Halal is a lifestyle, one that encompasses much more than merely size and involves other areas such as: cosmetics, medicines and clothing.

The symbolism of consumption was something that I investigated among butchers and halal markets in the municipality of Odivelas to fully understand the consumption of halal products in the region. Here I tried to find out the type of consumers the establishments had and what reasons led them, muslim and non- muslim consumers, to consume halal products. Through my interviews with multiple muslim and non-muslim consumers in the municipality, I found that the former consumed halal products to achieve spiritual transcendence with the divine following the dogmas of Islam, and that the latter consumed halal products as a healthier food alternative, ethical (related to the way in which the animal in question is slaughtered) and with higher quality than the so-called conventional options found in large commercial stores.

The muslim community of Odivelas is one of the oldest in Portugal, having settled in what was still considered the municipality of Loures (the municipality of Odivelas would only be founded in 1998) at the end of the 1970s. 1983, the Aisha Siddika mosque was created, marking not only the establishment of the community in this region but, in the decades that followed, a focus of attraction for muslim families who later also settled around it, making the community grow increasingly larger. Currently, the muslim presence in the municipality is quite notable, with the community having around 5500 to 6000 members according to the study that was carried out in 2023 within the scope of the Municipal Plan for the Integration of Migrants (MPIM).

Regarding the participation of the Odivelense Muslim community in public life, in the practical policies of the municipality, it is added:

The community carries out cultural and religious activities to promote Islam, with the support of approximately 100 volunteers and, in some cases, the Centro Cultural das Colinas do Cruzeiro. They promote studies of Islamic texts and monthly deliveries of basic necessities to members in need and the poorest. (…) Currently, the largest nationalities among members are: Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Indian, Portuguese and Guinean. (MENDES et al., 2023, p. 211)

This aspect to which I refer is vital for us to understand the relationship of friendship and mutual assistance that exists between the muslim community of Odivelas and the City Council, factors that have proven to be crucial throughout the development and maturation of the halal meal implementation program.

The MCO’s motto is the creation of a multicultural council of “all for all” and many efforts have been made in this direction, or we would not be in a municipality where there is enormous cultural and ethnic diversity. Following this reasoning, its Education Division (ED) has sought to monitor and support different food realities, taking them as determining factors for children’s integration and school retention.

The process of developing the halal meal supply program dates back almost 10 years, in 2012. This year marked the first formal request to the Odivelas City Council by the local muslim community for the implementation of halal meals in the school network. public. The tone of families’ complaints accompanied their displeasure with the lack of school food options: the MCO already offered fish- based meals, pork-free meals and, once a month, vegetarian meals. However, this was not enough, something more was needed.

After several years of intense dialogue and numerous proposals, the Institute Halal of Portugal (IHP) began preparing the program in 2019 and, from then on, the entire process developed quickly. The MCO entered into an agreement with CLA-Catering Linhas Aéreas Lda, credited by IHP after the presentation of technical sheets, to prepare halal meals (in deep-frozen single-dose format) and send them, every two weeks, to EB. D. Dinis nº1 (located in Odivelas) – school chosen by the MCO and IHP after filtering among the remaining school units proposed. After this important step, the council got in touch and secured the services of Gertal S.A. to act as an intermediary and carry out the redistribution of halal meals (using isothermal boxes) among the school units covered by the program.

Having managed the school cafeterias for pre-school and the 1st, 2nd and 3rd cycles of basic education and secondary education, it was in these school units that MCO focused its efforts and implemented it´ s Halal program. The program officially started in the 2021/2022 academic year, more specifically in October, with the introduction of halal breakfasts and snacks. Only later, on January 28, 2022 (with the beginning of the 2nd academic semester) with the implementation of halal lunches, history was made when, for the first time in Portugal, a halal diet regime was implemented in the Portuguese public school network.

By the end of the 2021/2022 school year, the Odivelas City Council’s Halal program covered 50 school units and around 116 Muslim students were targeted. In its first full academic year, 2022/2023, the program covered 51 public school units and 150 muslim students were targeted (an increase of around 33% compared to the previous academic year). In the current academic year, 2023/2024, the Odivelas City Council hopes to take the program to more school units, in order to reach more muslim students (a forecast of around 200) and proposes to increase the dietary diversity of halal meals (from 9 to 12 or more) already available. Consequently, he hopes to be able to carry out more training activities, together with the IHP, among school staff in order to raise awareness not only of the issues surrounding halal meals, but also to contextualize them on issues related to Islam itself.

During my fieldwork I was accompanied by the MCO’s ED technicians on their numerous food monitoring visits to the designated school units in the municipality with muslim students.

This ethnographic participant observation allowed me to analyze the practical processes involved in packaging and heating halal meals. The temperature of the units and the concern about not allowing any risk of cross- contamination (combining a halal meal with a haram meal) set the rhythm during lunch hours in the schools covered: From the moment they are prepared by CLA- Catering Linhas Aéreas Lda, from the moment they are deep-frozen and transported to Odivelas and are redistributed by Gertal S.A., until the moment they are regenerated to serve the designated students, the temperature levels are always carefully observed. With all care taken and the unit heated, the halal meal is then provided to each muslim student marked for their purpose in polyethylene dishes, duly differentiated from other meals, thus avoiding any risk of cross- contamination, together with soup and a piece of fruit. To these remaining lunch components (soup, fruit) are added bread, vegetables and dessert which, like the fish dishes, are prepared in the schools’ own kitchens based on products approved by the IHP.

The program, however, extends beyond providing halal meals. The public school units in the municipality of Odivelas covered by them have thus laid important foundations (based on the introduction of halal menus, a broader understanding of the issues of the Odivelas muslim community and its multicultural nature) necessary to reverse the trend of school dropouts precociousness on the part of muslim students (something that has occurred a lot in recent years in the municipality, and to foster in them a binary sense of identity in which they can be Portuguese citizens (national identity) and muslims (religious identity) simultaneously.

The program acts to an equal extent in the integration of muslim students into the odivelense school circle, promoting their Portuguese (national) identity, also giving them freedom to express their Islamic (religious) identity and allowing, through the halal diet, to establish a link of continuity (felt nostalgically in particular by muslim families who emigrated to Portugal from muslim countries) with the dietary lifestyle (halal) that muslim children (and their own parents) had in Islamic countries before attending Portuguese teaching. T (Moroccan muslim immigrated to Portugal more than 20 years ago and with 2 children in schools in Odivelas) was one of my numerous interlocutors and commented on the project:

I think it’s a good initiative. I insisted that they (their two sons) join the project. They have always been signaled, in one way or another, not to consume certain foods; Now, with the halal menu, just fill out the signage document and you’re done. It was good for them, they felt happy. There was a positive reception from my children, they like it. The project, for me, is a form of integration. It was worrying that until now they didn’t have halal meals like I had in Morocco. I support the project not only as a muslim, but also as a Portuguese citizen…after all, my children are too. It is a form of social, cultural and also religious integration. (T)

The project thus has a profound impact on the lives of the muslim students covered. The halal diet opened the door to a new type of social and cultural integration based on food and its measures did not go unnoticed by the students involved who felt happy with its implementation. The (14 year old), muslim student covered by the project I spoke to, gave me is speaking about it:

It (the project) represents inclusion for 100% of us, the muslim students who go to schools here in Odivelas. Likewise, it is great to see that the muslim community is so large here that you see many people in typical muslim clothing on the street. The people who are here feel included in the social and political life of the municipality. When you put food in schools you are thinking about the people there, that is important. Schools here are always very inclusive. I’ll give you an example: the school schedule didn’t allow me to perform the late afternoon prayer and to do it I had to leave classes 30 minutes early every day to do so and when I made this request the school accepted it without any problem.. Another example: in the month of Ramadan, this last one now in April, I asked during that period not to participate in physical education classes because, as I was fasting, I didn’t have much strength and I felt tired more quickly and they let me. (O)

The Halal programo of Odivelas translated into a new type of sociocultural inclusion and educational integration through food that promotes the exercise of citizenship. From food and the simple (but vital) prolonged interaction at the table with the rest of their classmates, muslim students have increasingly developed their interpersonal relationships, being more in contact with other cultures and ways of being and being a child. The municipal program thus cements values of cultural acceptance and religious freedom among the youngest, preparing and developing new generations of adults who are more tolerant and open to intercultural dialogue.

Likewise, the program also raised the issue of religious and national identity. Throughout my research, I was able to see (also as a direct reflection of the muslim families and elements interviewed) that muslim children have become increasingly aware of their own religious identity as muslims (given the fact that they can now eat halal food in the same space than their non-Muslim colleagues and feel comfortable being able to do so) but, on the other hand, they also increasingly see themselves as Portuguese citizens, not being differentiated by their religion or the food they eat.

Monitoring the continuation and expansion of the Odivelas council program could be a very interesting case of anthropological study, as it is an unprecedented program in public practice measures, to understand the nuances created by it, deepen the analytical knowledge of the differences and awareness created by the even for and among the local Odivelas community (parents, families, students, employees, cooks, teachers…) and to understand whether, in the coming years, more muslim families and students will settle in Odivelas due to its halal food program, as they did for several decades in connection with the Aisha Siddika mosque. One can possible see this program advancing and spreading to more regions in Portugal abling every muslim student to eat halal food next to his and hers fellow non-muslim colleges.