The Halal Guys are part of I Heart Halal’slineup. The Halal Guys/Facebook

This weekend, Chicago’s Navy Pier will hostwhat’s described as America’s first festival celebrating halal. As EaterChicago first reported back in February, the inaugural I Heart Halal Festivalhopes to attract 20,000 attendees with a Taste of Chicago-style lineup forhalal food vendors and cooking demos. Food’s not the only focus of the eventthat goes from Friday through Sunday. The festival will also host Muslimmodels, makeup artists, and comedians.

The lineup includes Amanda Saab, a chef whoappeared on MasterChef in 2015. She’s credited as the first Muslim femalecontestant who proudly wore her hijab on screen. Yvonne Maffei, a food writerwho’s written several books and who’s behind My Halal Kitchen will also appear.She’s appeared at Chicago Gourmet. YouTuber Sameer Sarmast of Sameer Eats andchef Demetrios Haralambatos of Kontos Foods, a New Jersey-based food servicecompany, will also appear at the halal festival.

In February, the event’s organizers talkedabout how modern American Muslims have different tastes. They want halalburgers, pizza, and more traditionally American items. Halal is the Muslimdietary law as outlined in their holy book, the Qur’an. Common banned itemsinclude pork ? and by association any items made with gelatin. Strict observerswould also abstain from alcohol. But not everyone is strict. Just like thereare Jews who may cheat on their Kosher ways by mixing their dairy and meat andscarf down a cheeseburger, there are Muslims who may blur the lines when itcomes to halal.

The lineup includes suburban and Chicagorestaurants. Some, like The Halal Guys, serve a variety customers ? not justMuslims. It doesn’t matter, that hot sauce still burns. Others, particularlythose from the suburbs, cater to much of the area’s Muslim immigrantpopulation, which includes swaths of South Asia and the Middle East.

Check out the full food vendor lineup forthe festival below. Click on the fest’s website for the full schedule of panelsand demonstrations.

Link->https://chicago.eater.com/2018/4/11/17224388/i-heart-halal-festival-chicago-food-lineup-navy-pier