West Philadelphia woman creates affordable frozen halal meals for Muslim American families
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A woman in West Philadelphia is making it easier for Muslim American families in our area to find accommodating religious meals at the grocery store.
Lavaughn Jones converted to Islam in her 20s and was struggling to find a quick meal to make for her two kids that upheld their religious beliefs while also combining their American roots.
"I'm going to make an easy halal tasty meal for single parents, busy moms," she said. "There's a lot of misconceptions. People think that Muslims are just foreigners but no, you have millions of Muslim Americans that were born in America."
Jones's best friend and business partner Danieltta Pantoe says out of all the frozen meal options at stores just 5% are halal.
"Halal is a method of slaughtering," Pantoe said. "Halal means permissible."
Jones's halal meals cater to the growing number of Muslim American families wanting a home-cooked style meal.
"Although Islam is our religion, we still have an American culture," Jones said.
After working with a ShopRite business incubator program, Aruba's Halal Kitchen meals finally hit the frozen food section in April inside 10 grocery stores.
Baietto: When people walk through the frozen food section and see this meal, what do you want them to know?
Jones: I want them to know that it's made with love.
It's a meal that Jones is making sure can also be affordable to working-class Muslim families.
"So, I wanted to have that option to go into the grocery store and buy this meal with my food stamps card," Jones said. "I've experienced it. I know other parents have experienced the same thing. Here you go girl, or here you go dad. I know the struggle. This is for you."
