Kosher Dining to add hallal service

The new facility will meet the dietary needs of Muslim students. The new Kosher Dining facility, which is set to open in the warehouse near 40th and Locust streets, will now also accommodate Muslim students who prescribe to a hallal diet, Penn officials said recently. A hallal dining service is one that meets the dietary needs of observant Muslims. Officials say the addition of hallal service to the new Kosher Dining option will serve as an opportunity for Jewish and Muslim students to expand their horizons and learn more about each others' cultures. According to Vice President for Campus Services Larry Moneta, observant Muslim students have traditionally eaten at Kosher Dining --previously located in the Faculty Club -- because the diets are similar, but now the dining facility will address the needs of hallal students directly, rather than serving them by default. "What's different this time is we're going to try to make it a little more inviting for them," Moneta said. But the focus of the service is still on kosher food, Moneta said. "The immediate meal needs are for the kosher community," Moneta said. The new facility, formerly occupied by both Boccie Pizza and Saladalley, will be run as a price-fixed kosher restaurant open to the public, although dining plans will be available for students, Moneta said. The building is currently undergoing renovations to prepare the location for the opening of the restaurant in the fall. Calling it an "exciting and wonderful opportunity," Rabbi Howard Alpert, executive director of Hillel, said that by sharing meals, Jewish and Muslim students can interact in a manner not otherwise possible at Penn. "Eating together and talking together may help us overcome other issues that divide us," Alpert said. University administrators announced this spring that Kosher Dining would relocate to the warehouse spot after the facility's former location, also the site of the Faculty Club, was chosen to become the new home of the Graduate School of Fine Arts. The restaurant will cover about 8,000 square feet, making it larger than the dining facility in the current location. Another space in the warehouse, to be leased by Hillel during the construction of its new building over the next several years, will allow not only for Jewish programming, but also for possible joint-programming or discussions between Muslim and Jewish students, Alpert said. "I think Jewish students choose to come to Penn both? to live as Jews and also experience the general community," Alpert said. "Having a kosher service that is also hallal will accomplish both." A portion of the warehouse is currently occupied by Video Library, which will not be affected by Kosher Dining's move.