After learning Mary Brown's offers a halal menu, this man was able to have his first taste in 6 years
The chicken restaurant was part of Yassir El-Tahan's childhood — but he had to give it up
Mary Brown's restaurants are a staple in Newfoundland and Labrador communities, and the company is expanding across Canada and into international markets including Pakistan, Mexico, India and Northern Ireland.
And for Yassir El-Tahan, the chicken chain has been a long-standing tradition in his family while growing up on the northeast Avalon Peninsula.
"I grew up on Mary Brown's. Me and my dad and brother, every week after Friday prayer we would go to Mary Brown's. Since I was four years old, we started that tradition," El-Tahan told CBC News.
"If my mom was working late and we were ordering fast food, Mary Brown's was the go-to. It has always kind of been that comfort food for me growing up."
But that tradition changed when El-Tahan met his wife, Saba, who, as he explains, follows a strict halal diet.
Halal is Arabic for "lawful or permitted" and generally refers to what's allowed under Islamic law. What that means for food, El-Tahan said, is that it's raised and slaughtered in a humane way.
"For her, that was very important. So, of course, for me that was very important," he said.
"But at the same time, if I was going to go only halal, that meant I could not eat Mary Brown's, I could not have fast food. That's the ultimate sacrifice right there, not to be able to eat Mary Brown's."
A new shop on the block
Six years went by without a bite of Mary Brown's.
El-Tahan said he missed the restaurant so much he even considered opening his own franchise with a halal menu. Saba also campaigned for a wing restaurant in St. John's to offer halal on the menu and won.
But a redevelopment of Memorial University's main food court in the university centre halted the franchise dreams. A new Mary Brown's Express opened up, and with it came a halal menu to better serve the growing international student community.
Saba gave the good news to El-Tahan a week before his birthday.
"I had no idea, and she was very excited to tell me the news," El-Tahan said.
"She said I started to cry. There's no evidence of that. Maybe my eyes welled up a little bit. I was a little excited."
The following week, El-Tahan brought his wife and parents to MUN for his first taste of Mary Brown's since marriage.
Different needs for different populations
The company's chief marketing officer, Jeff Barlow, told CBC News varying menu options are at the forefront of corporate policy decisions.
"It's a real interesting dynamic across the country because you're going to have pockets of populations that have more a Muslim mix to them or a mix that requires, or wants or requests, halal," he said.
"So whenever possible, when we source our chicken, if there's a halal option available we'll opt for it.… All we're trying to do is give more choices to the population."
The Mary Brown's Express at MUN has been halal since it opened.
That decision, said El-Tahan, is a big deal for the students.
"This is a hub. I was a student here. If you want to eat, you have a few different options, and if there's no halal food options that's tough," he said.
"Food is your fuel. That's what gets you through your day. If you're in classes all day long, you're going to be studying all night and you need to be replenished. If you don't have any halal food options, that's tough, so good on Mary Brown's to recognize that and provide that to the students here."
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