Queens Butcher Cuts Up Fresh Meats and Fresh Perspectives
By Will O’Connor, Jack Mills and Jack Savage
Mayonnaise and jack fruit are two very different things. One is an American classic and the other is a Bangladeshi staple and symbol of national pride. Both, though, sit side by side on the shelves of the Akota Grocery and Halal Meat Market in Jackson Heights, Queens.
This quintessential New York bodega quickly turns into something uniquely different, with Bangladeshi imports stacked to the ceiling in the back, and classic halal meats being prepared in the deli section.
“Me and my family, we are all Muslims” said Akm Nuruzzaman, co-owner of the halal meat market along with his wife.
In an interview at his shop Tuesday, Nuruzzaman stressed the particular Americanness of his family and business, talking about him and his sons and their uniquely American experience.
For 19 years the storefront has served the people of Jackson Heights, providing the community with halal meats and Bangladeshi specialty products along with typical American groceries. The store administers to both the unique cultural needs of the community, along with the basic needs of people living in Queens.
Before he owned it, the shop was an Indian grocery store. Nuruzzaman described the neighborhood when he first arrived as a “Little India.” Since then, immigration from other Southeast Asian countries, particularly Bangladesh and Nepal, have changed the community. The changes have brought about more need for the kinds of products that Nuruzzaman sells, helping to grow his business and support his family.
The front of the shop was crowded with typical bodega and street products. Chips, gum, tobacco and soda stocked the walls and coolers. Near the crowded cash register stood coffee machines, accompanied with a pile of energy bars. The counter itself could be found in any of the many bodegas and newsstands that dot New York.
The back of the market stands in stark contrast to the front, with a mesh of Bangladeshi and American products in between. Large bags of rice and grain line the walls, and spices like chili, cumin, curry and oregano were stored in shelves. Flax and Sesame seeds sat next to ground cinnamon and nutmeg. Opposite of the dry products is the fresh side of the store, presented in large white coolers with clear tops. Inside, prepared fish and meats sat, kept cool by ice. The back of the shop is dominated by a large meat locker. In the small alcove between the locker and the wall stood a butcher’s stand, with a large belt saw and chopping block behind that.
The shop doesn’t slaughter the meat in-house, said Nuruzzaman, instead they buy it wholesale from across the northeast. All of the chops are prepared in the back, using a combination of power tools, such as a table saw, and traditional butchering.
Nuruzzaman and his family, a wife and two sons, are Muslims, as are all of his employees. His employees are also immigrants and many are from Bangladesh.
One employee, Mokbul Hussien, 55, works as a butcher and stock boy. Hussien is in America on a two-year work visa. Like so many migrants, he doesn’t know what will happen to him when his visa is up a year from now. “I have family in Bangladesh” he said in broken English, and wouldn’t say what his future plans were.
The core of the business is local Muslims and Bangladeshis, but people have come from as far as “New Jersey and Pennsylvania” Nuruzzaman said.
The meat is halal, which means it is prepared in accordance with Islamic law, but not all of the customers are Muslims. “We sell high quality meats. Non-Muslims like the way it’s prepared, no cruelty” Nuruzzaman said.
The store, along with others, are faced with the task of providing a unique product to the Muslim community, which must reconcile the desire to maintain their religious identity while also adopting to the America culture, of which meat is a large part.
Halal food itself is an important concept in the Muslim community. The phrase “halal” translate from Arabic to English as “permissible” and constitutes the middle ground of Islamic law, as it is neither forbidden nor considered righteous.
In the West, the term more commonly refers to the specific dietary restrictions many Muslims adhere to. Islamic law specifically prohibits the consumption of some foods, most notably pork and alcohol, but accepts most meats and food products as acceptable, provided that they adhere to a specific set of rules concerning their origins and preparation. Meats have their own specific regulations.
“The animal must be slaughtered in the name of Allah, meaning it must be killed by hand-or by a specific method of cutting while a prayer is recited,” said Imam Khalid Latif, the executive director of the Islamic center ad New York University, in an interview with the website Refinery 29.
Most butchers in America do not follow these guidelines, creating demand for halal meats and the niche market that Nuruzzaman and his family fill.
Since starting his business 19 years ago, Nuruzzaman has seen much change in the neighborhood. He left Bangladesh alone at the age of 26, and worked at small jobs in America. Upon getting married he started the shop. As the neighborhood changed, the shop continued to provide the same basic staples that it had been providing.
Census data reports that in 2010, almost 23 percent of the population of Queens was of Asian origin, and almost 48 percent of people were foreign-born. Religious data is much harder to come by, but America as a whole has a growing Muslim population. The market serves the growing Southeast Asian and Muslim people that want the specialty foods in their homes.
In the ever changing, ever growing population of Jackson Heights, Queens, Akm Nuruzzaman’s Bangladeshi American business has been a constant in the community for nearly 20 years. The future, though, isn’t as certain. Nuruzzaman has two sons, and speaks very affectionately of both. The business is a great source of pride for him, but he also acknowledges that “No, they (his sons) probably will do something else.”
Nuruzzaman is an American success story, one that brings out the best of both Bangladesh and American cultures. In May, he plans on watching his eldest son cross the stage and gradate from Stuyvesant High School, a long way away from the tropical forests and rivers where he grew up. That moment, and many more in the future, would not be possible without the hard work Nuruzamman put into building a life for himself, and for a little meat shop in Queens.
