For professional reasons, we have 5 cases of halal MREs in our office. The manufacturer is a client, and we needed to do some RFID tag testing.

Said firm is also a supplier of kosher MREs, which led us to wonder about the similarities. Fortunately, [Wikipedia is on the case]. Short summary:

• Jews can drink, but can’t have cream sauces.
• Muslims can’t drink, but appear to have no prohibitions about meat and dairy together.
• Fewer animals are kosher than are halal.
• Both have specific rules regarding slaughter that must be followed; they are similar, but not the same. (To our untrained eyes, it sounds like it’s possible for a single animal to meet both sets of rules, as we didn’t see any contradictions.)
• Neither can have blood or pork.
• There are special rules for kosher at Passover, but halal requirements are the same all the time.

All this is much more complex than the dietary restrictions of our ancestral people. Actually, we’re pretty sure those just boiled down to if you see someone from church at the liquor store, don’t wave.