BLACKSBURG -- Sunny Khattak describes his Wednesdays and Thursdays as
"hectic."
I think he's putting it gently.
Every week, Khattak leaves his Blacksburg market for Washington, D.C., New York or Atlanta to pick up fresh produce. On the way back, he stops at a processing facility, where he slaughters the animals that will be sold in his store as halal meat, the only kind permissible by Islamic law.
By Friday morning, the meat case at Global Foods international grocery is stocked with fresh goat, sheep, lamb and beef, all of which is usually sold out by Saturday evening.
Because of the time and expense he puts into the routine, Khattak rarely makes a profit on the meat.
"Sometimes," he said, "I think you don't do everything for the money."
In part, Khattak, who is Muslim, does it so fellow Muslims don't have to drive for hours to find fresh halal meat.
And the meat is not just popular among Muslims. For one thing, goat and sheep meat -- halal or not -- can be difficult to find in Southwest Virginia. For another, his customers enjoy the freshness, and some people consider halal butchering procedures to be the most humane.
To produce halal meat, an animal should be healthy before slaughter. Then, the neck must be cut using the sharpest knife possible, and all the blood, which is believed to harbor diseases and impurities, must be drained from the body.
A blessing to Allah is also said before or during slaughter, and the animal must be processed by hand, not machines.
Khattak, who is originally from northern Pakistan, came to America to study engineering at the University of Michigan. He took a special United States Department of Agriculture class to learn halal butchering.
Khattak uses three different slaughterhouses, depending on the week, and pays $65 to $135 per animal to use the facilities. He takes care to purchase the youngest animals he can find so the meat is tender.
He sells goat, sheep, lamb and beef for $3.79 to $5.79 per pound, depending on the cut and variety. A leg of lamb averages $20 to $22.
Despite the slim profit margins on meat, business is going well at Global Foods, which opened six months ago. When customers come in to peruse the meat case, they often end up also buying vegetables, cheese, spices and other ingredients, which do produce a profit.
Sedki Riad, director of the Islamic Center of Blacksburg, estimates that about 1,600 Muslims live in Southwest Virginia. But I could only find two other stores that sell halal meat in any sizable quantity.
Stores serve a diverse population
Alan and Xiaojin Moore, who own Oasis World Market in Blacksburg, sell a small amount of halal meat. Mediterranean Goods Market on Williamson Road in Roanoke has a larger selection of cuts, which the owner brings down from Washington, D.C.
The Williamson Road store carries many of the same Mediterranean, Middle Eastern and Southeast Asian products that Khattak carries, such as high-quality olive oils, dried fruits, beans, rice, nuts, syrups and spices such as garam masala or fenugreek.
A newer market, Mediterranean Gourmet on Memorial Avenue in Roanoke, is smaller, but owner Assaad Salamoun, who is Lebanese, stocks Mediterranean ingredients and some nice breads and pastries.
Ambika Indian Grocery, on U.S. 221 in Roanoke, carries just about everything you might need to make homemade Indian food, including an array of spices that lend the store a heavenly aroma. They also sell many prepared frozen dinners and meal kits.
Khattak has a more diverse customer base than the Roanoke stores because his store is international in focus, with Chinese, Korean, Thai and other Asian ingredients in the mix. He plans to expand his Asian section soon.
Ready-to-eat meals and dinner kits sell quickly there, perhaps because so much of Khattak's business comes from Virginia Tech students and faculty. Students from other countries can treat homesickness without spending hours in the kitchen.
Because Muslims are also forbidden to eat anything that contains pork or alcohol, they tend to eat homemade food most of the time. Khattak, who follows the same rules with his wife, Tonia, and 11-month-old son, Aasher, inspects every product label and won't stock anything that breaks halal rules.
Riad said Khattak's efforts make life easier for their fellow Muslims.
"Many people just go there because they don't have to spend as much time reading the ingredients."
Have I forgotten any ethnic markets so far? If so, log on to the blog and give me a good talking-to.