halalfocus.net » France

EU: HSBC’s Islamic unit says funds to exceed $10bn

salama — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 21:42:58 +0000

Wealth from GCC investors will add more than $70bn to the Islamic fund universe

HSBC Amanah Securities Services, part of HSBC Holdings, will more than double the value of the Islamic funds it services to exceed $10bn after it helps to set up funds in the next 12 to 18 months.

Demand for Islamic funds has risen in the past three to six months as the global economic slowdown prompted investors to seek alternative investments to help manage risk, according to Germain Birgen, Luxembourg-based global head of HSBC Amanah Securities. The unit will help set up more than 30 Sharia-compliant funds globally.

About $10 trillion was wiped from the value of global equities in the third quarter amid concern a worsening European debt crisis will derail global growth. Sharia law forbids gambling, investments in alcohol and receipt of interest, so fund managers have to select investments deemed halal, or permissible.

“Islamic funds are not exposed to the same level of derivative techniques as conventional funds,” he said in a telephone interview from Luxembourg today. “Conventional institutional managers, targeting institutional investors such as pension funds or insurance companies, are investing in socially responsible investments, which in most markets, Islamic funds fall under that category,” he said.

HSBC Amanah Securities has received a growing number of queries for Islamic funds from clients in countries, such as Australia, South Africa and Brazil, he said. “One project coming from Brazil relates to a private equity fund investing into farming, Brazil being one of the world’s biggest exporter of halal meat,” Birgen said.

Wealth from investors in the Gulf Cooperation Council will add more than $70bn to the so-called addressable Islamic fund universe by 2013, Ernst & Young MENA said last month.

“Increasingly, people are seeing the value in attracting the world’s Muslim wealth with such funds,” Birgen said. “With the current size of the industry, there aren’t enough funds.”

HSBC Amanah Securities services 90 funds in 12 domiciles valued at about $5bn, a tenth of the Sharia-complaint fund industry, Birgen said. Mature fund markets, such as Malaysia and Saudi Arabia, target mainly local investors, he said. The new funds will help attract “large, conventional players” worldwide.

The unit will help establish some of the funds in Luxembourg, Ireland and Singapore, where regulations are more familiar to international investors, he said.

France: State is not ‘Halal’: resentful immigrants turn to Islam in France

salama — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 22:29:44 +0000

Thibauld Malterre – middle-east on line

Islamic ‘Republic’ of France

Local communities in France’s immigrant suburbs increasingly organise themselves on Islamic lines rather than following the values of the secular republic, according to a major new sociological study.

Respected political scientist Gilles Kepel, a specialist in the Muslim world, led a team of researchers in a year-long project in Clichy-sous-Bois and Montfermeil, two Paris suburbs that exploded in riots in 2005.

The resulting study — “Suburbs of the Republic” — found that religious institutions and practices are increasingly displacing those of the state and the French Republic, which has a strong secular tradition.

Families from the districts, which are mainly populated by immigrants from north and west Africa and their descendants, regularly attend mosque, fast during Ramadan and boycott school meals that are not “halal”.

With between five and six million Muslim residents and citizens, France has the largest Islamic population in the European Union, and central government often struggles to address the challenges to integration that this poses.

Kepel performed a similar study 25 years earlier, and told the daily Le Monde that the influence of Islam in the daily lives and cultural references of the suburbs has “diversified and intensified” since then.

French schools, which are rigorously non-religious, have traditionally been seen as having the role of training young citizens of the republic, but local officials say Islamic pupils are heading home for a halal lunch.

“A certain number of children don’t come to the canteen any more or, if they come, they only take a starter and dessert,” Xavier Lemoine, the centre-right mayor of Monfermeil, told Europe 1 radio.

Surveys suggest most in France do not object to mixed marriages, but in the suburbs the researchers were surprised find “a very large proportion of Muslim respondents said they were opposed to marriages with non-Muslims.”

The researchers also delved into the reasons behind the 2005 riots, which they said had called into question modern France’s founding myth “the implicit shared belief that the nation was always able to integrate people.”

While the resentment in the poor suburbs has social roots, essentially the residents’ virtual exclusion from a tight jobs market, the rioters expressed frustration in a vocabulary “borrowed from Islam’s semantic register.”

Islamic values are replacing those of a republic which failed to deliver on its promise of “equality”, and the residents of the suburbs increasingly do not see themselves as French, the researchers said.

“One of the reasons for the strong role of Islam is that the Republic has withdrawn,” warned Claude Dilain, the Socialist mayor of Clichy.

“Those who fell abandoned seek another identity, and Islam satisfies that well.”

But the report does not support the idea that the state has simply pulled back, to be replaced by Islam. The Clichy-Monfermeil agglomeration has been at the centre of one of France’s biggest urban renewal programmes.

Many physical barriers to integration have been removed, with efforts made to plug the area into public transport networks and improve public safety — but unemployment and low school achievement remain high.

A third of the population of the town does not hold French nationality, and many residents are drawn to an Islamic identity rather than simply rejecting or failing to find a secular one.

Kepel’s study was commissioned by the Institut Montaigne, which will make recommendations in January.

The author warns: “France’s future depends on its ability to re-integrate the suburbs into the national project.”

France: Quick Keeps Halal Branches Open till Midnight for Ramadan

salama — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 15:29:06 +0000

In France this year, with sunset coming well after 9 PM, one leading fast food chain is seeking Muslim business by keeping its doors open an extra two hours.

Since 1 August, halal branches of Quick restaurants, France’s leading fastfood chain, have extended their business hours from 10 PM until midnight to accommodate their Muslim customers who have to wait until after sunset to eat.

This is a first for Quick, which had not adjusted its business hours in previous years.

However, despite this accommodation, the crowds of Muslim customers have yet to pour in. Most Muslims in France seem to prefer eating at home in Ramadan.

Nevertheless, the gesture has been appreciated.

One Muslim couple, who love Quick’s halal burger, say they welcome the initiative: “We do not have children and we work late. It is very convenient for us. But, especially at the beginning of Ramadan, Muslims like to be at home, with family.” the young husband said.

Quick’s management say they expected this low response at first. They predict increased late-night volume after the 15th of the month.

The assistant manager of Quick’s Nogent says he “expects big sales from August 15,” which is also the middle of Ramadan.

At the entrance, only one placard indicates the times changed, without mentioning the reasons. The manager of the franchise, Hervé Peretti admits, however, that this new schedule is mainly due to the Muslim holiday, since 60% of the branch’s customers are Muslims.

Quick halal branches in the Paris area have adopted the same policy, including the restaurants in Chelles (Seine-et-Marne), Fleury (Essonne), Saint-Ouen (Seine-Saint-Denis), Argenteuil and Garges-les-Gonesse ( Val-d’Oise).

In the provinces, only the Kingersheim (Haut-Rhin) branch has changed its hours, and only at the drive-thru counter.

“This is a logical consequence of the policy to serve halal food,” admits the National Director of Quick, who makes it clear that the extended hours are not a national policy.

Quick’s branching out into halal restaurants dates back to November 2009. The chain began by testing halal burgers in eight restaurants. At the end of the successful experiment in June 2010, the selected branches experienced “an average increase in sales of around 100%”. With these results, Quick decided to make 14 more branches halal (out of a total of 375 branches in France).

Halal food market is estimated at US$500 billion per year

salama — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 15:41:20 +0000

By Omer Ibrahim
Islamonline.net_ Doha

Halal meat is meat that has been slaughtered according to Islamic law, in which the animal is killed by a transverse cut to the throat, rather than by the usual European method of rendering the animal unconscious by stunning and then killing it by bleeding.

With the Muslim Holy month of Ramadan underway, the French food industry is paying special attention to the growing market of products known as “halal,” a designation for food produced according to the rules of Islamic law.
Halal retailers earn about one third of their annual revenue during the month of Ramadan. Overall, the quickly expanding industry pulls in an estimated 5 billion Euros worldwide, according to Solis, an ethnic studies consultancy firm. In France, supermarkets sold roughly 130 million worth of halal products last year. That number is expected to reach 140 million Euros in 2011, according to the consultancy firm Nielsen.

Halal products only began appearing in French supermarkets a few years ago. Specialized brands like Isla Délice and Reghalal were later joined by large French food industry players like Fleury Michon and Panzani. The supermarket chain Casino launched its own range of halal products under the umbrella brand Wassila. And Carrefour, France’s top food retailer sells approximately 50 of its own halal products as well. Carrefour’s halal foods have been approved by the Grande Mosquée de Paris (the Great Mosque of Paris). But for many consumers, questions remain about halal certification.

Concerns were heightened recently by a documentary aired by the television network Canal +, which described “some practices that could be described as fraudulent. With Ramadan now into its second week there has been much debate this month in France about the growth of halal food consumption. According to Iremam (the French Institute of Research on Arab and Muslim civilizations) there are over 5 million Muslims in France and the halal market is four times more valuable than the market for organic food.

Halal products in Russia

Halal products volume in Russia is also growing 30-40 percent annually, the Halal Standard Committee at the Tatarstan Islamic High Council said based on research outcomes. Head of the Russian Consumer Rights Protection Union Mikhail Anshakov believes most Halal products are consumed by Moscow residents who have no relation to Islam, Fakty weekly reports recently.

“The demand for food products manufactured under control of any religious community is on the rise because consumers become more careful in selecting their food. Halal products are well-known as high quality food. For instance, they use minimum chemical additives or by-products and, thus, consumers have more trust in them,” he believes

According to the newspaper report, the current food trends in Europe also show that Europeans increasingly trade off traditional food for Halal products.

Halal products in USA

Faisal Masood, founder of the American Muslim Consumer Conference, relates American Muslims hold 170 billion dollars in spending power. It is an amount that is expected to grow exponentially as indigenous Muslims grow and immigrant Muslims raise their second and third generations in America.

As numbers grow, Muslims continue to maintain purchasing habits that align with their Islamic faith. Muslims want to be able to look at a product and see a recognizable halal logo. There is an increasing demand for products that are inclusive.

The Pure Halal Center based in Philadelphia, – a halal certification company, is answering those needs by specializing in training, product development and community outreach. The Pure Halal Center (PHC) examines the needs of the American Muslim consumer and then works with manufacturers, universities, hospitals and other institutions to offer halal products. PHC recognizes that the supply for halal is not meeting the demand.
For Muslims living in Philadelphia, shopping halal is indeed getting easier. The Brown Family chain of Shoprite supermarkets currently offers a number of halal products and is working aggressively to increase shelf space for more certified halal products.

Customers can find brands such as NAC Foods’ Mimi brand spices, Club America’s Halal gummy bears and Tayy-ib brand lunch meat. Retailers are also offering IFANCA certified Halal brands such Crescent Foods, Saffron Road, and Toms’ of Maine products in many cities.

New Trends

Historically, halal certified products have been hard to come by in the US from mainstream brands, but times are changing. The Pure Halal Center is in talks to certify products from Herr’s – the third largest snack food brand in America.

There is crossover appeal for halal products. Many non-Muslim consumers already choose to buy halal products, especially meat offerings. One reason is because halal is widely known to be held to higher standards of quality. This is particularly important at a time when more Americans are looking to adopt healthier eating habits.
Muslim Americans want to purchase the same products as every other American – they just want them to be unquestionably halal. The number of American Muslims is slated to reach 16 million by 2014 and American Muslim consumers are looking ahead. They are no longer satisfied with purchasing products after having no choice but to read a lengthy list of ingredients and spending way too much time in the supermarket.

Mainstream manufacturers and retailers have been slow to take notice. Studies show that while the opportunity for market share among other segments is dwindling, the American Muslim market remains virtually untapped.

The Mail newspaper recently revealed how most British supermarkets were secretly selling halal meat – especially lamb. The investigation found that most New Zealand lamb sold in major British supermarkets was halal, meaning that the prayer ‘In the name of Allah, who is the greatest’ is said at the time of slaughter. Stores selling lamb slaughtered according to Islamic law included Waitrose, Marks & Spencer, Asda, Morrison, Tesco and Sainsbury’s.

Counter trends

Last month, The Dutch Animal Rights Party pushed a bill through the lower house of the Dutch Parliament that would outlaw the slaughter of animals without stunning. The law, if ratified by the upper house of parliament, will in essence make locally raised and slaughtered kosher (and halal) meat illegal. A similar law was passed in New Zealand last year, and kosher slaughter is already outlawed in Iceland, Norway and Sweden.

The battle over the ethicality of kosher slaughter came to the United States recently, though fortunately with a better outcome. A Washington state appellate unanimously rejected a suit that would have made a law protecting religious slaughter unconstitutional, says the JTA.

Jewish groups in Europe are strategizing ways to combat the Dutch bill. In June, United Kingdom Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks told British paper The Telegraph: “We are worried that [this type of bill] could spread. There has been a non-stop campaign by animal welfare activists to have all forms of ritual slaughter banned. It has to be fought everywhere because if it’s lost anywhere it has a potential domino effect.

France: Possible French parliamentary debate on Halal meats?

salama — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 11:43:27 +0000

Eight French municipal representatives have made a request for a parliamentary commission on the halal meat market following a polemical documentary aired by Canal + at the beginning of the month of Ramadan. The representatives argued that the documentary revealed serious problems with the halal food market including certifying organizations like the Mosque of Paris. There has yet to be an official governmental response to the request.

France: No longer niche, Halal food finds mass market

salama — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 08:41:24 +0000

According to a survey conducted by the French public opinion firm Ifop, 71% of France’s estimated 5 million Muslims had intentions to fast from sunrise to sunset during the 29 days of this year’s Ramadan. After sunset, Muslims often have big family gatherings that translate into a rise in overall food consumption.

Halal retailers earn about one third of their annual revenue during the month of Ramadan. Overall, the quickly expanding industry pulls in an estimated 5 billion euros worldwide, according to Solis, an ethnic studies consultancy firm.

In France, supermarkets sold roughly 130 million worth of halal products last year. That number is expected to reach 140 million euros in 2011, according to the consultancy firm Nielsen.

Halal products only began appearing in French supermarkets a few years ago. Specialized brands like Isla Délice and Reghalal were later joined by large French food industry players like Fleury Michon and Panzani. The supermarket chain Casino launched its own range of halal products under the umbrella brand Wassila. And Carrefour, France’s top food retailer, sells approximately 50 of its own halal products as well.

“Halal isn’t a niche anymore,” says one Carrefour spokesperson. “It carries more weight than organic food.”

Carrefour’s halal foods have been approved by the Grande Mosquée de Paris (the Great Mosque of Paris). But for many consumers, questions remain about halal certification. Concerns were heighted recently by a documentary aired by the television network Canal + , which described “some practices that could be described as fraudulent.” A group of eight local Muslim politicians responded this week by asking for a parliamentary investigation into halal certification practices.

France: Clamour for health drives French chilled foods

salama — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 09:50:31 +0000

Chilled processed food was one of the best performers within the broader French packaged food market in both value and volume terms in 2010. Sales were underpinned by strong demand for natural products beneficial to health and wellbeing, combined with increased innovation and consumers eating in more regularly. Euromonitor International’s Anastasia Alieva looks at how the channel grew over the last year.

According to the latest research from Euromonitor International, sales of chilled processed food increased by 2.9% in volume and 5.3% in value to reach EUR10.4 billion in 2010. A rise in health concerns combined with increasing demand for natural products sustained growth in the category. Strong innovation from manufacturers attempting to address these key consumer trends also contributed to chilled processed food’s good performance, making it one of the most resilient food categories during the credit crunch.

In terms of volume growth in 2010, chilled processed food developed at a slightly lower rate than the CAGR of 3.3% seen during 2005-2010, reaching 982,000 tonnes at the end of the review period. This minor slowdown in consumption was mainly due to many consumers resuming home cooking using fresh products in a bid to save money during challenging economic times. Despite sluggish consumption, strong innovation ensured that value growth in 2010 outperformed the CAGR of 4.5% seen during the review period as a whole.

The average unit price of chilled processed food increased by 2% in 2010 to reach EUR10.60/kg. Most categories registered an increase in average unit prices, in part as a result of increasing product sophistication. Chilled processed fish/seafood experienced the fastest price increase, with average unit prices up by 5% to EUR16.60/kg in 2010. A limited supply of fish combined with increasing demand led the price of chilled processed fish/seafood to rise.

Chilled processed food benefits from a fresher image than frozen and canned food, being perceived as healthier and more natural. Manufacturers’ efforts to improve recipes have also contributed to the positive image of chilled processed food. Most manufacturers have stripped back their list of ingredients by taking out preservatives and additives to meet consumers’ increasing demand for naturalness.

Fish and seafood most dynamic

With consumers cutting back on eating out, the shift from out-of-home consumption to in-home consumption has benefited chilled fish/seafood. Consumers have tried to recreate a restaurant experience by cooking their own gourmet meals at home or by organising a dinner with friends or an apéritif dînatoire, a mix between an apéritif and dinner.

In terms of growth rate, chilled smoked fish/seafood outperformed chilled processed food overall in 2010, with impressive double-digit value growth of 16% to reach EUR1.1 billion. Growth was driven by smoked salmon, which accounts for 80% of the overall chilled smoked fish/seafood category.

Meat products enjoy high demand

Chilled processed meat, accounting for almost two thirds of chilled processed food in value terms, grew by 4% to EUR6.2 billion in 2010. Segmentation in chilled processed meat is quite complex in France since it includes an array of product types. Cooked ham is the first contributor to the category, with a 25% value share in 2010. Its value-for-money credentials continue to attract consumers in a period where price has become a key factor in purchasing decisions.

The health and wellness and natural trends have pushed forward cooked ham, with organic, halal and high quality red label being the main growth drivers. The gourmet and premium positioning of cured ham (including dry cured ham), the second largest category within chilled processed meat, with an 18% value share, attracts consumers wishing to recreate a restaurant dining experience at home.

Natural, health and sustainability credentials drive product innovation

In chilled processed meat, health continued to be the main driver of product development in 2009/2010. Reduced-fat and reduced-salt products have flourished on shelves to meet consumers’ demand for better-for-you products. Amongst the most noticeable new product launches in 2010 was the first reduced-fat and reduced-salt dry cured ham in France, launched by Aoste Group in March 2010 under the Weight Watchers licence.

National brand manufacturers have launched an array of products across chilled processed meat in the halal segment, cashing in on the growing demand for such products in France. Category leader Fleury Michon has introduced more than 15 products in one year, having invested in the poultry category with the launch of a halal range at the beginning of 2010 to compete with Herta’s halal range in the same category.

In chilled processed fish/seafood, naturalness has been the main innovation driver. In line with its premium positioning, Fleury Michon has introduced the Selection range, a range of ultra-indulgent crabsticks without polyphosphates, sorbitol and glutamate to meet consumers’ desire for more natural products. Launched in April 2010, this new range is also certified with the MSC (Marine Stewardship Council), which guarantees the product to come from a sustainable fishery. In order to support its new crabsticks range, Fleury Michon launched a display campaign in May-June 2010 and also planned 250 days of in-store communication from May to July 2010. A promotional campaign on packs has also run since April 2010.

Meralliance’s range of Armoric easy-to-cook fish has been successful partially due to its flow pack packaging, which facilitates the cooking process, but also reinforces the product’s fresh image.

Private label remains highly competitive

Retailers have developed private labels in every category to compete with national brands. For instance, Casino has launched its own halal chilled processed meat range. Retailers have also introduced their own organic private label ranges and have pushed their private label products hard to cash in on the economic downturn through price cuts and promotions. Private label products are cheaper than branded products and are easy to promote as a good way to reduce consumers’ food bills. Private label’s value share of chilled processed food reached 37% in 2009.

Way forward

Sustainability is likely to be a key trend that companies will be pushing over the forecast period to tap into an increasingly environmentally-aware consumer market. Manufacturers are expected to emphasise the provenance of their products or to adhere to ethical standards through sustainability programmes. Fleury Michon has already led the way with its Selection range certified by the Marine Stewardship Council, but more manufacturers are likely to follow the ethical trend.

Demand for chilled processed food is expected to remain strong, with a constant value CAGR increase of 3% during 2010-2015, mainly thanks to strong interest in healthy and natural products. As a general trend, products positioned towards health and wellness are likely to perform well over the forecast period, whilst products considered to be less healthy such as dried sausages and chilled pizzas could underperform the overall category.

Chilled smoked fish/seafood is expected to continue to outperform chilled processed food overall with a CAGR rise of 7% over the forecast period in constant value terms. Unit prices are expected to increase between 2010 and 2016 due to the emphasis put on sustainable fishing practices.

Opportunities to create new usages and also new segments such as organic or halal chilled processed food are likely to help increasing frequency of purchase and recruit new consumers.

UK: Ocado shares plunge

salama — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 13:58:31 +0000

Ocado shares plunge as capacity fears overshadow debut profit

By Sean Farrell, The Independent

Ocado lost almost a tenth of its value yesterday, despite recording its first interim profit, as investors took fright at the online grocer’s lack of capacity.

Tim Steiner, Ocado’s chief executive, said the group had performed strongly across all measures and had been upfront about its need to increase warehouse capacity to maximise sales.

“The only piece of news that we would have liked to have been better was our 21 per cent sales increase. We told the market six weeks ago that we had capacity constraints. We have been capacity constrained and we have still grown 21 per cent.”

The shares fell 17p, or 9 per cent, to 170p – their lowest this year and taking them under the 180p flotation price last July.

Ocado swung to a pre-tax profit of £200m in the first half of its financial year from a £6.7m loss a year earlier. But investors homed in on the constraints placed on growth by the capacity shortfall at its giant warehouse in Hatfield.

Orders delivered on time or early dipped to 92.7 per cent from 94.9 per cent, partly due to stretched capacity. Mr Steiner said the drop in delivery quality was “very, very marginal” but “miles ahead of our competition”.

The lack of warehouse space meant the company had to limit its marketing for new customers, Mr Steiner said. He said Ocado was adding capacity all the time and that its new distribution centre was on schedule for completion by the end of 2012.

“We have shown pictures of the building being erected on time and on budget in Warwickshire. It’s frustrating being the only retailer that can’t grow as fast as the customers want to buy the products,” he added.

The group, founded by Mr Steiner and two fellow ex-Goldman Sachs bankers in 2000, mostly sells products from Waitrose, the upmarket grocer that had agreed not to compete against Ocado in London. Waitrose is gearing up to take on Ocado in the capital when the agreement lapses in a few days.

Shore Capital analysts said Waitrose could be a big threat to Ocado if it can match its online rival’s service levels. They added: “We also point out that Marks & Spencer and Morrisons have yet to enter the market. The former could be the greatest challenge of all to Ocado.”

Mr Steiner said more online grocers was good for Ocado because once a supermarket customer had taken the plunge to shop online, they were five to 10 times more likely to switch to Ocado than if they still shopped at a store. To wean itself off Waitrose, Ocado is launching its own products and it yesterday unveiled a partnership with Carrefour to sell the French chain’s food products. Mr Steiner said the link-up was the first of many “speciality” ranges that would include Oriental, kosher, halal and diabetic foods. Mr Steiner and his colleagues will be free to sell their shares on 5 July when a post-flotation lock-in expires. He declined to comment on whether they would sell stock and said it was “unfair to keep being asked” because directors would be under constant pressure not to sell.

France: Staying Halal in Paris will not take you out of your way

salama — Sat, 21 May 2011 12:12:56 +0000

By John Brunton – www.thenational.ae

While French cuisine may now be officially recognised under Unesco World Heritage, and Paris can claim to be the world’s gastronomic capital, from its atmospheric bistros and brasseries to elegant Michelin-starred temples of gastronomy, the city is also a treasure trove of restaurants showcasing food from all over the Middle East and North Africa, with a vast choice of patisseries and bakeries, gourmet caterers and halal butchers. You’ll find these in every Parisian quartier, from the friendly corner couscous in the working-class Belleville neighbourhood to a chic Lebanese mezze restaurant on the Champs-Elysées.

One of the most exciting players on Paris’s food scene is Liza Asseily, a chef and entrepreneur, originally from Beirut, who has taken the City of Light by storm in the past five years, thanks to her glamorous restaurant and the adjacent boulangerie, which showcases contemporary Lebanese cooking.

“Liza” is right by the Paris Bourse, and while at midday the clientele is very much sharp-suited businessmen huddled over power lunches, the evening is a far more Middle Eastern affair, with chic ladies showing off expensive couture wardrobes.

I have never tasted such original dishes, such as her kafta samek, a delicate sea bream tartare with dill, or red mullet cooked with lemon, swiss chard and a sesame purée. Although based in Paris, where she has just opened a summer restaurant in the Galeries Lafayette, Liza also has a restaurant in Doha, with another opening in Beirut this year and projects planned for Istanbul and New York in the future. Bubbling with enthusiasm, the perfect guide to Paris’s Middle Eastern cuisine scene, she asks me to come to her restaurant at 10.30 in the morning, with the whole day to tour her favourite haunts.

Liza orders a taxi and then bustles me off to visit her bakery, next door to the restaurant. “I’m starving,” she tells me. “Let’s get the kitchen to rustle up a couple of signature sandwiches to eat on the journey. You simply must try the secret recipes of our chef.” Hassan Issa, who looks after the ovens in the restaurant and boulangerie, is a talented young man who Liza discovered in a village in South Lebanon and then whisked to Paris, where he has become a star in his own right. While the taxi driver is forced to block the traffic, Hassan prepares a delicious kafta sandwich, bursting with diced lamb, hummus, cornichons and tomatoes, and a club vegetarien, using traditional Lebanese bread, tolmeh, with sesame, thyme, labneh and fresh mint.

“Let’s bring one for the taximan too,” says Liza. “They really are the grumpiest Parisians anyone ever meets.” Finally, safely ensconced in the back of the cab, Liza begins to tell me about the best Middle Eastern food in Paris.

First we are going to the smart 15th arrondissement, on the Left Bank, which is the favoured residence of many Middle Eastern people living in Paris. Hidden away on a quiet sidestreet is Les Délices d’Orient, an épicerie that stocks every delicacy from across the Arab world. “When I’m depressed or homesick, the first thing I do is head straight here, where just walking through the door is like stepping back into my childhood – the same sweetmeats and pastries, the same aromas and flavours,” Liza says.

Although this is a quiet residential neighbourhood, the shop is packed with chic shoppers and the atmosphere resembles a private club where everyone seems to know each other, swapping gossip at the same time as doing the shopping. It is certainly difficult to resist the huge choice of dried fruits, sticky cakes and rich sweets, perfumed spices, pistachios, olives and honey, before you even reach the cheeses, hummus and tahini, exotic fresh vegetables and pungent botargo. Les Délices was opened 20 years ago by El Hawlly Romyo, who has transformed it from a pokey corner shop into a cornucopia of treats. He supplies 300 restaurants in Paris alone, and 1,500 across the rest of Europe. Last month, he opened a halal butcher’s shop just next door, already sought out by the best restaurants, but also catering for shoppers with its wood-fired oven for pizzas and bread, plus tempting takeaway dishes such as chicken shwarma, farrouj and beef fajita.

A couple of minutes’ walk away and we are in rue des Entrepreneurs, which looks like any other Parisian street, with its butchers and bakers, sunny cafe terraces where locals sit out enjoying a breakfast of croissant and pain au chocolat. But actually this is the place to come to taste the unique cooking of Iran. You can’t miss the huge sign on the window of the delicatessen Erkan advertising Iranian caviar. The charming and erudite owner, Monsieur Varam, runs a boutique that doubles as a cultural centre for émigrés, with poetry and political books alongside saffron, darbari rice, pomegranates and pistachios. For those who seriously want to splash out on caviar, be prepared that prices begin at €4,000 (Dh20,940) a kilo. Across the road is Mazeh, a simple canteen and caterer that for more than 20 years has been preparing what is recognised as the best Iranian food in Paris, while just down the road, competition is coming from a newcomer, Restaurant Cheminée. Although the decor here is decidedly dull – paper tablecloths and bare walls – the surprises are on Cheminée’s menu, where we discover complex, tasty dishes like ach rechteh, Iranian vermicelli with kidney beans, chickpeas, lentils and spinach, or baghali polo, rice heaped with succulent lamb, flavoured with dill.

Back in the taxi again, Liza tells me about a couple of Parisian foodie must-sees. “For the perfect rooftop views over the Notre-Dame and the Seine, everyone should stop off at the Institut du Monde Arabe.” The chic penthouse restaurant, Le Zyriab, is run by Noura, the name behind celebrated Lebanese restaurants all over Paris and London. Designed by the star architect Jean Nouvel, the institut is a cultural flagship for the Arab world in Paris, and few restaurants in the city have panoramic views that can compare with Le Zyriab, she says.

“It’s a short walk to the Mosquée de Paris, whose romantic restaurant and shady gardens are a magical place, whether you sit to sip thé à la menthe or feast on their speciality lamb and prune tagine served with cinammon semoule.”

The mosque was built in 1926. The largest in France and the third biggest in all Europe, its gardens are dotted with fragrant cedars from Algeria and Lebanon, and the salon is decorated with green Moroccan tiles, Tunisian pottery and giant copper tables. Although this is an important religious centre, the restaurant and hammam attract a broad clientele of Parisians, students and tourists.

But our next stop is the restaurant that inspired Liza to open her own place. Le 404 was the first exotic locale opened by the ultimate mover and shaker restaurateur, Mourad Mazouz, known all over the food world as Momo. “Momo just gets everything right,” enthuses Liza. “From the decor to the cuisine, from the music to the ambiance. Le 404 is still my favourite place for a Sunday brunch – the bread they bake is fantastic.”

The narrow streets here between the Pompidou Centre and the Les Halles shopping mall are seething with people day and night, especially rue Rambuteau; it’s difficult to stay on the pavement because of the line of people queuing outside a stall where the chef can scarcely roll and bake traditional man’ouches, or crepes, fast enough, sprinkled with thyme and then drizzled with olive oil. On the same street, Our Kebab has to be the only kebab shop that looks like a funky designer lounge bar.

Paris also has a host of busy North African markets selling the city’s cheapest food and vegetables in the rundown working-class neighbourhoods of Barbes and Belleville, but the one most worth visiting right now is the Marche d’Aligre, not far from the Bastille.

This is a quarter under transition, where the stalls are still staffed by immigrants from Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt and Morocco, hawking tomatoes from Brittany, Moroccan oranges and juicy mangoes from Senegal, while the shoppers are predominantly trendy Parisians – known here as Bobos, or bourgeois bohemians – who have decided that this is the latest hot spot to be living in. Everyone mixed in well here, but the poor Bobos don’t realise that every weekend when they come to do their shopping, the traders up their prices by 20 per cent to 30 per cent.

Aligre is where you’ll find some of the best Algerian patisseries such as La Bague de Kenza, halal butchers and traiteurs, and an exotic salon de thé, called La Ruche à Miel. Almost sated, Liza and I finish our tour de Paris at the end of this colourful street market, at Le Berbère, a favourite local restaurant, whose friendly owner, Hocine Bouaziz, greets every customer like a long-lost friend. The food here is simple and reasonably priced, and we can’t resist a huge bowl of couscous with spicy merguez sausages and kafta, chunky beef brochettes and their signature méchoui, long-roasted lamb.

France: Sarkozy’s debate targets Muslims

salama — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 06:13:51 +0000

A week before the burqa ban, French Muslims find themselves accused of violating republican values

Claude Guéant, France’s interior minister, was in typically conciliatory mood when he described the growing number of Muslims in his country as a “problem”. Pointing to the fact that this community had grown from “very few” when the republic became a secular one in 1905, to 5-10 million today, Guéant highlighted the sight of many of them “praying in the street” as particularly undesirable. Guéant’s government has chosen a period of unprecedented tension and volatility in the Arab world to launch a debate about the negative influence of Islam on French society. As his own pilots attack Libya with a ferocity so far not displayed by other coalition members, President Nicolas Sarkozy will settle down on Tuesday to watch the epic discussion unfold at a Paris hotel.

The debate will nominally be about the changing nature of the French model secular society, but don’t be fooled by the grand euphemisms. If such a subject can be discussed by Sarkozy’s lieutenants without further references to assorted “Muslim-related problems”, then “collateral damage” has nothing to do with civilian body counts.

A whole catalogue of perceived horrors will be discussed, ranging from halal meat in schools to those prostrate worshippers blocking boulevards in major cities because there aren’t enough mosques to go round. All will be described as distinctly Muslim factors that “violate” republican values.

Less surprisingly still, the debate comes just a week before next Monday’s introduction of the full-blown burqa ban – legislation ensuring prison sentences and fines for crimes related to intimidating Islamic headwear. It will, in many ways, be a rerun of last year’s national identity debate, when town halls and internet chat rooms across the land teemed with racist invective.

The rhetoric employed is one means by which Sarkozy hopes to win over those who usually place their trust in the National Front, a party that has been revived by Marine Le Pen, daughter of France’s best-known postwar xenophobe, Jean-Marie Le Pen. With the latest opinion poll showing that 72% of French people do not believe Sarkozy can win next year’s presidential election, there’s no doubt that he needs all the support he can get.

Feelings are running so high that the leaders of France’s six major religions have joined François Bayrou, the centrist former presidential candidate, in branding the debate “poisonous”. They say it will stigmatise the country’s 6 million Muslims, spreading hatred and distrust. Even François Fillon, the prime minister, agrees that his government’s lurch to the right is alienating huge swaths of society. As Gilles Bernheim, the grand rabbi, told Le Monde: “It’s often difficult to be a Muslim in France. This difficulty is worse today in this unhealthy climate, aggravated by talk that divides rather than unites.”

Along with the other leaders, Bernheim suggested that a national debate about France’s secular model, which has been in operation since church and state were separated at the beginning of the 20th century, was particularly cynical at a time when the country should be concentrating on showing “dignity and respect” to people from every background.

Guéant clearly doesn’t think so, and that’s why Le Pen has already invited him to join her National Front. Extremist policies aimed at attracting disillusioned working class voters are seen as the key to winning the 2012 presidential elections, with assaults on “problematic” Muslims as desirable within mainland France as they apparently are in the country’s theatres of war.

Nabila Ramdani – Guardian.co.uk