Whole Foods unveiled a line of halal products called Saffron Road recently. In addition to the new halal line, Whole Foods also created advertising, blogs and contests centered around the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. And Muslims throughout the country rejoiced that Ramadan was being recognized by a national chain! But, of course because this is America and there is a strong anti-Muslim sentiment, people spoke out against it. People claimed Whole Foods was promoting terrorism and a host of other absurdities.
So, then there was a story that Whole Foods was backing off of their Ramadan and halal foods campaign. Which angered a whole other group of people. These people claim Whole Foods is spineless among other unflattering adjectives. But wait, the story isn't over! Whole Foods then released statements that they were in no way backing away from this campaign. A statement was released earlier that claims there was one district in the Whole Foods empire that suggested taking down signage and avoiding any mention of Ramadan, but that Whole Foods headquarters was not behind this directive. Confused yet? Me too.
My hope and wish is that Whole Foods is not feeding into the ignorance and fear mongering of those who hate any and all things Muslim. There has been far too much of that already. I applaud Whole foods for thinking of it's Muslim customers and I think it's absolutely FANTASTIC that they are offering halal products. It is absolutely WONDERFUL that they are recognizing Ramadan and I wish more places did. Now, dear Whole Foods, please please please stick to your original plan and ignore the ignorance of the fear mongers
