Meat Cart on Henry Street

By on October 27, 2008 10:13 pm in Brooklyn Heights

Photo by EJ

Anyone get the scoop on the Halal Meat Food Cart in front of the Hotel St. George tonight?

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  • my2cents

    Didn’t know BH had such a market for Halal meat that necessitated a cart.

  • Beavis

    Walked by there this afternoon. The smell was unpleasant. Bring back the fruit guy.

  • HDEB

    Street meat rocks!

  • Curmudgeon

    Don’t like it – the smell is terrible.

    As a person who loves animals, I have a problem with this kind of meat – same with Kosher. Read the following from Wikipedia:
    “Because halal prohibits slaughter of an unconscious animal, the slaughtering is done by cutting the front of the throat first. Some animal rights groups object to this method, claiming that it can take several minutes for the animal to die and can often cause suffering. In 2003 in the UK, an independent advisory group – the Farm Animal Welfare Council (FAWC) – concluded that the way halal (and Kosher) meat is produced causes severe suffering to animals and should be banned immediately. Halal and kosher butchers deny their method of killing animals is cruel and expressed anger over the recommendation.”

    ‘Nuf said!

  • MadeInBrooklyn

    Hey Curmudgeon: I am not saying what you posted isn’t true BUT I would say that Wikipedia really should be the last place you go for accurate information.

    Regardless, bring on the yummy street meat… though I must say I’d prefer one of the Red Hook ballfield carts myself!

  • http://cobblehillblog.com EJ

    Last night when I walked by, the smell wasn’t of delicious street meat, but of a gas leak. They seemed to have problems hooking up the grill. Hopefully none of the dorm kids were smoking too close to the cart..

  • my2cents

    I think that slitting the throat was chosen originally for being relatively humane. Probably seems more humane to me than shattering the cow’s skull and brain with a pneumatic hammer. If you’ve ever had kosher chicken, for example, you’ll find it’s a lot less tough because the animal doesn’t tense up in its death throes. If you feel uncomfortable with the idea of animals suffereing at all, I suggest you become a vegetarian.

  • Curmudgeon

    Come now Made in Brooklyn, Wikipedia is not faultless, but it IS a good start for research on the web and in this case it happens to be correct.

    I have no problem with the humane dispatch of animals, but these methods are unnecessarily cruel.

  • http://www.plan59.com/images/JPGs/meat47hands01.jpg MadeInBrooklyn

    How do you know it’s correct; did you double-check the info with another resource?

  • Curmudgeon

    I disagree with you my2cents. I grew up near a Kosher slaughterhouse and it was not a pretty sight. In addition, I have had Kosher meat and I found it to be much tougher than regular meat.

    Listen, slaughtering an animal is never going to be a pleasant thing, but I stand by my point that these ritualistic methods of slaughter are unnecessarily cruel. If you have ever seen a video of a cow hoisted upside down – throat slit and left to bleed to death, well the pneumatic hammer does seem more humane.

    Cruelty is not required.

  • http://www.plan59.com/images/JPGs/meat47hands01.jpg MadeInBrooklyn

    In regards to my last comment: I ask as I am genuinely curious if that is the true method of kosher/halal butchers, and not trying to be a wise-ass… Speaking of halal meat, I will say that on multiple occasions I’ve seen them delivering meat to the halal butcher on Atlantic Avenue in an non-refrigerated truck in the middle of the Summer. I’ve also seen them drop an entire goat on the filthy street and load it right into the shop… Yummy!!!

  • Curmudgeon

    For Made in Brooklyn – it is a topic I have followed for years.

  • Monty

    Kosher meat usually tastes better because it is salted as soon as it is slaughtered. I doubt the method of slaughter is relevant. I had always believed that kosher slaughter was humane, but the FAWC referred to by Curmudgeon is an official advisory panel to the British government. The Wikipedia entry has a footnote pointing BBC news. Clearly its a touchy subject because religion is involved.

  • Nelson

    All of the above to one side….why is this cart allowed to be selling in a residential neighborhood….we have plenty of fast food restaurants, that, by the way, are paying rents and city fees to be in business.

  • Ed

    Wikipedia should be the first place you go for information, you get a decent overview, then you click on the links to the sources at the end of the article to get the more accurate information.

    Interesting how we went from a taboo against slaughtering animals when they are conscious to a taboo against slaughtering animals when they are unconscious. My guess is slitting blood vessels is not as painful as having one’s head bashed in.

  • http://www.roadkillbill.com/Wikipedia.jpg MadeInBrooklyn

    Nelson: They probably secured a license to sell on the street like the hotdog vendors on Montague Street. I doubt they are selling illegally though it’s of course a possibility.

  • lifer

    carni food

  • Gail

    Lately the kosher slaughtering process has come under fire because of the alleged abuse of both animals and employees at agriprocessors, the largest glatt kosher slaughterhouse, based in Iowa.

    As a Jew, and someone who has grown up observing Kosher laws, I will say that it is a fundamental part of the religion that the animal experience the least amount of suffering. Whether or not this is actual true I don’t know, but know that is the intention and cruelty to animals isn’t tolerated.

    I personally don’t eat red meat or poultry, but wanted to share my thoughts on the matter.

  • Zeekers

    Listen Curmudgeon…

    First of all, street meet isn’t Kosher, and generally Hebrew National and other “Kosher Style” or “Jewish style” brands of food are in fact Kosher in name only and more than likely not slaughtered with legitimate Kosher practices.

    Secondly, the entire idea of Kosher meat slaughering, from an Orthodox Jewish perspective is to give the animal as LITTLE PAIN AS POSSIBLE which is why rather than a hit or miss bolt from a nailgun shooting them in the head, sometimes not killing them for minutes or hours, Orthodox slaughtering is one long cut across the throat and letting them bleed out, the most direct way to end the animals life without randomly shooting it in the head or stabbing random parts of the neck or body as is done in nearly all non-kosher slaughtering.

    This isn’t Germany in 1939 Curmudgeon, be careful with your anti-Jewish comments.

    If you are genuinely interested, the Orthodox Union (“OU”) is the only real Jewish Organization who supervises legitimate kosher food prep.

    Needless to say, the OU doesn’t regulate street meet, hence, not Kosher.

  • Sam Iam

    Zeekers; What the hell are you talking about?
    Germany? 1939?
    Maybe you should have someone read those posts to you.
    If you find any thing anti Semetic in any one of curmudgeon’s posts, please point it out so we all can pile on.

  • Curmudgeon

    Sorry. I don’t like the way that animals are slaughtered in a ritualistic fashion. It has nothing to do with whether it is sold on the street or not. Halal is also sold in regular stores and not only on the street. I sense a bit of anti Islam in your remarks.

    It has to do with the was animals are killed. IT IS CRUEL. It can be Halal, Kosher or Santeira sacrifice, but it is still cruel. There is nothing humane about that way of slaughter. I know because I saw it many times in my youth.

    Funny how you call me anti Jewish but not anti Islam. I resent your remarks. I am against all religious ritualistic slaughter – PERIOD. Me thinks you are the one with the problem!

  • bornhere

    Zeekers — I have no dog in this fight, so to speak, but wow — a little over the top, no? That said, there are a lot of ultra-orthodox Jews who will not eat meat that is only OU supervised.

  • my2cents

    It’s ok folks. Zeekers also thinks Fascati is the best pizza in Brooklyn. So he/she is clearly delusional. Zeekers, as a fellow jew I find it really offensive when other jews like you invoke the holocaust at the drop of a hat. It’s unbecoming to our people. Kindly think before you speak. Your post was otherwise compelling before you resorted to that BS.

  • jiker

    how disgusting and cruel. whoever actually eats this crap has a screw loose. no animal should be slaughtered. only the people who don’t feel their is anything wrong with slaughtering animals should be slaughtered.

  • Kim

    They cart has been there throughout the week…

  • Bob

    Kosher slaughter, done correctly, is quite humane, and if Hallal is is done the same way it would be too. Upsidedown hoists are not the norm and are rejected. As was also stated, however, slaughterhouses are nasty places and that issue should be discussed separately from the question of whether we want to continue to allow freedom of and from religion in our country.

  • HDEB

    Jiker: I eat street meat and believe taking an animals life to eat can be an enlightening, spiritual experience.
    Do you believe it is inherently wrong when one animal eats another or does that apply only to humans?

  • David

    Putting aside this whole silly brouhaha over kosher slaughtering practices, I have one burning question: Is the food at the cart any good?

  • Eric

    I had a chicken pita from the cart that night and…..it was really good! Pretty standard “street meat,” but overall very satisfying. And to quickly chime in on Mr./Ms. Curmudgeon: When I was an undergraduate I wrote an essay in a sociology class on a new trend of non-kosher individuals that are choosing to only eat kosher meat because of the cleanliness of the animals. In my research, I found that kosher meat not only is, indeed, generally better quality, but it also is considered the most “humane” way of slaughtering an animal. The blade of the knife has a sharpness requirement, and the location of the cut is very precise as to kill the animal in the shortest amount of time with the least amount of pain. You seem to have some sort of ingrained disdain towards certain groups/practices, so I’m sure my words will have no effect on your hardened misconception. But nevertheless, hope this limited information is informative. And back to the meat cart… a good meal!