Kareem Market's owner finds niche by offering Middle Eastern goods
By Ben Baeder , Staff Writer

WHITTIER -- Hooka pipes are stacked atop shelves at the Kareem Market at Lambert and Colima roads.

Against the back wall are hung packets of strange herbs, labeled with flowing Arabic text.

According to federal statistics, only about 600 people in Whittier and surrounding unincorporated communities are of Arab descent, but that didn't stop Mark Kayyali from opening a market specializing in items from the Middle East.

Despite the seemingly small customer pool, Kayyali is not worried.

"People will find me,' he said.

Kayyali hopes to attract them with his secret weapon halal meats.

The word halal describes anything that conforms to Muslim religious law, he said.

And in the context of food, it means the person who prepared the food followed guidelines spelled out in Muslim religious texts, such as saying a prayer before slaughtering an animal. In the case of halal beef, one strict rule says it should never come into contact with pork.

Kayyali plans to have a huge cooler stocked full of the meats at all times. That, along with good prices on produce and hard-to-find Arabic products, will keep customers coming, he said.

Open for just two weeks now, Kayyali can hardly carry on a conversation without someone calling his cell phone asking about his halal products.

"When Muslims see the word 'halal,' they come,' said Kayyali, a native of Jordan who has lived in the United States for 20 years.

"To be honest, they do not even really care about the price,' he said.

If nationwide trends continue, the demand for stores like Kareem Marke t will grow, experts say.

The 2000 U.S. Census did not ask about religion, but the survey found that the United State's Arabic population has doubled since 1980, jumping from 610,000 in 1980 to 1.2 million in 2000.

About 10 percent of Arabs are Christian, but most of the rest are Muslim, experts say.

Sabiha Khan, a spokeswoman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said her organization estimates that about 600,000 Muslim people from dozens of countries live in Southern California.

"The opening of stores like this is indicative of the growing Muslim community,' she said.

She said Muslims take halal to mean different things.

Virtually all Muslims agree that it is not acceptable to eat meat from pigs or other forbidden animals, but views differ on the preparation of meat from acceptable animals.

"Some people would say we can eat meat prepared by 'people of the book,' which means Jews, Christians and Muslims,' Khan said. "To take that further, some people would say the United States is basically a Christian nation. Some Muslim people have debated over whether going to Carl's Jr. or McDonald's is eating food prepared by people of the book.'

But others would rather play it safe and make sure the meat is prepared to exact religious standards, she said.

"I have friends and neighbors who only shop at halal markets,' she said.

And halal meat is somewhat trendy, she said.

"Some people are including halal meat as part of popular diet fads,' she said.

Kayyali has heard the same, he said.

"People are very comfortable eating meat they know was treated with such respect,' he said.