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Detainees Eat Well, Gain Weight on Camp Delta's Muslim Menu
Wednesday, July 3, 2002
By Rudi Williams
American Forces Press Service

A typical breakfast consists of pita bread, rice, curried eggs and peas, milk and fresh fruit, or hash browns, pita bread, a boiled egg, milk and fresh fruit. A typical dinner consists of rice, pita bread, meat and vegetable curry, milk, fresh fruit and margarine. A variant is rice, baked fish, stew sauce, spinach, orange or orange juice, milk and bread and margarine. Joint Task Force 160 provides the lunch vegetarian MREs [meal ready to eat].

A large vat of curry rice is one of the dishes contract cooks at the Guantanamo Bay Seaside Galley prepares for detainees at the Camp Delta detention center. The detainees' diet is mostly vegetarian.
(high-resolution image available)
JTF 160 Image Credit: PFC Jean-Carl Bertin -- U.S. Army.

NAVAL STATION GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba -- AFIS
"The hotter the food, the better they like it." But Navy mess specialist Chief Petty Officer Colleen M. Schonhoff said preparing tasty, nutritious, spicy hot food for the Muslim detainees here at Camp Delta isn't her major concern.

"We have to make sure that the food is halal approved," said Schonhoff, overseer of the galleys at Guantanamo Bay that feed the detainees and U.S. service members. "Meats for the detainees have to be handled a certain way under Muslim requirements. When I order meat for military people, I just say I want 50 pounds of chicken, and it doesn't matter how that chicken has been handled as long as it's USDA approved. For the Muslims, I have to have a certificate from the company that says it's halal approved. I'm required to keep the certificate on file in case I'm ever questioned."

For instance, a certificate of Islamic slaughter must accompany every shipment of meat for the detainees. The Islamic Services of America must certify that the meat is halal beef that was handled according to all Islamic slaughter procedures and guidelines.

The 564 detainees at Camp Delta represent 39 countries, mostly where Islam is the main religion. Joint Task Force 160 is responsible for their
security and care at the camp.

Muslims use two terms to describe food - halal and haram. Halal is an Arabic word, which means lawful or allowed, but it is sometimes translated as acceptable or not forbidden. Haram means the opposite - unlawful or prohibited. Halal foods are foods that are permitted for consumption under Islamic law. It is sinful for a Muslim to consume haram foods.

Haram foods include pig, dog, donkey, and animals having fangs, such as monkeys, cats and lions. It also includes amphibians such as frogs, crocodiles and turtles. Alcohol, harmful substances, poisonous and intoxicating plants or drinks are also haram.
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2002 © The United States Department of Defense.

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