How food insecurity impacts Long Island’s Jewish, Muslim communities

From a food truck parked outside the Islamic Center on Long Island, Ahmad Sheikh leaned forward to talk to a customer.

“3,” replied the man who was waiting outside on a recent weekend.

Shake and about five other people got into the food truck, picked up three pre-prepared meals of rice and butter chicken, and a salad and handed them to the man. No money is exchanged, and seldom questioned by men or others who drive to his Westbury mosque for free meals prepared according to Islamic dietary laws.

Across Long Island, familiar scenes unfold as Jewish and Muslim communities feed anxious populations who sometimes face the difficult decision of sticking to their religious diet or going hungry. You can

Dr. Isma Chaudhry of the Long Island Islamic Center said, “These individuals must sacrifice their dignity to have it or not to have it. It is a matter of human nature.” said.

Food insecurity within the two religious communities, as well as Long Island’s population growth, saw a long period of high cost of living merge with a high inflation environment, leading to cuts in some of the government food benefits that helped offset early hunger. As time goes by, it becomes more pressing. of a pandemic. But unlike some other communities, food aid to kosher and halal-adhering members can be a minefield of finding the right products and hoping they’re labeled correctly. there is.

Recent reports Long Island Cares, a community food bank with the purchasing power to buy groceries in bulk, finds many challenges in delivering food to the two communities, ranging from the cost of purchasing culturally specific foods to a lack of knowledge about sensory needs. It highlights the barriers of Shame on you for having to ask. The group recently received a $160,000 grant to address food insecurity in communities with dietary restrictions.

Learning curve to meet community needs

The report’s findings provide a window into food insecurity on the island.

Nassau and Suffolk counties, home to about 200,000 Jews, have only four kosher pantries, according to the report. Between January and October 2022, two kosher pantries operated by Long Island Cares served 16,270 households, or approximately 54,000 people. They provided his 482,544 meals.

The Kashrut method limits items such as pork and determines how other foods are prepared. Law-abiding individuals seek certification from rabbinical organizations to ensure that food preparation follows appropriate guidelines.

Within the Jewish community, participants in a survey included in the report by Long Island Cares expressed concern about the availability of kosher meat due to its high price. Some spoke of the shame of needing help or being turned down from the nutritional assistance program formerly known as food stamps because their income was too high.

Finding halal-certified products in Long Island’s Muslim community has proven particularly difficult, according to the report. Affordable halal food remains difficult to find in pantries and tends to be more expensive.

For example, Long Island Cares will pay $66.11 for 12 1-pound cases of halal ground beef for bulk purchases and $59.88 for that amount of kosher ground beef. The same amount of beef without either certification costs $50.36.

In Islam, halal refers to what is permissible, including edible food. Haram refers to what is not permitted. Food and drink includes alcohol, pork and their derivatives. That could mean that you shouldn’t consume foods such as many types of marshmallows and gummy bears, religious leaders say.

People have experienced the sporadic availability of halal meat within the Long Island Cares pantry network. And during the pandemic, demand for halal products has increased. The mosque had filled the gap in itself, the report found.

Jennifer Rosati, Long Island Cares’ vice president of programs, says there is a learning curve to meeting the needs of these two communities. Prior to producing the report, the organization generally did not purchase halal food, Rosati said. We are currently adding two mosques to our Food Network, including the Long Island Islamic Center. The Jewish community envisions buying more kosher meat and meeting other dietary preferences.

But for Rosati, who has a PhD in social and community services, offering more religiously aligned meals means that pantries and other services are becoming a complement to the regular diet of patrons, no longer It emphasizes the fact that it is not a strict emergency measure. There are about 200,000 food-insecure people on Long Island, according to a study by the nonprofit Feeding America.

“People are coming to the food pantries to consistently cover their food needs because the money they allocate for food is not being spent as much as it used to be,” she said. “So what you see on Long Island is people working poorly.”

Panzers, soup kitchens and other emergency feeding methods can serve as first aid, but they don’t address the root causes of hunger, says Hayley Hevenstrite, a professor of social services at Stony Brook University. Stated.

“These are one of the ways that in the absence of policy solutions and coordinated social safety net programs, we have to feed people,” she said.

Structural fixes could include more comprehensive funding and the introduction of government food programs, experts say.

About 28,000 households in Nassau County received food benefits last year, according to Newsday. In Suffolk, that same year, more than 66,000 households received these benefits, according to the report.

But experts say many people earn too much to reap the benefits. Also, SNAP benefit allocations have been rolled back to pre-pandemic levels. A family of four with no disabilities and whose income is $41,628 or less is eligible for benefits. According to SNAP standard It came into force in October.