Kashmir Valley warms up to handmade halal chocolates

Farzana Qayoom Malik has a habit: She checks food packaging for details of the emulsifiers used. "I used to ask her why she does that, since I did not know about emulsifiers. There are certain ones which are not permitted in our religion," says her childhood friend Fozia Farooq.

So when the two 23-year-old management graduates decided to launch a food start-up, it resulted in handmade chocolates free from harmful emulsifiers and animal fat. It was a natural decision since their goal was to benefit society, and not just be obsessed with the bottom line.

Their resultant brand, F&F Halaal Foods and Flavors, has been raising awareness about the use of harmful emulsifiers and garnered interest online, outside of their state of Jammu and Kashmir.

"When we started researching emulsifiers, we found that 70 percent of them are harmful and not halal. They are listed on packaging using certain codes, which are incomprehensible for the common person," said Farzana, who has finished a BBA and is pursuing an MBA. Halal is used to designate something permissible under Islamic law in all facets of life. It extends to the dietary standard prescribed in the Qur'an.

The idea came to them from Fozia's sister. "She sent us handmade chocolates from Australia, where she is settled," said Farzana. "And we decided to replicate them in Kashmir. We did an online course in chocolate-making from Australia and Fozia's sister sent us the material from Australia."

With middle-class roots and no deep pockets for investment, the women pooled in their pocket money to start the venture and worked out of their old house in downtown Srinagar. They marketed their products through Instragram, and slowly the word spread.

"We are making them only on orders and get about five a day," said Fozia, who has an MBA from the University of Kashmir. "Those who have tried our chocolates realize they are healthy. We are not making a profit yet, but plan to diversify and place our products in supermarket and department stores to reach a wider audience."

Hungry For Halal

• Halal is used to designate what’s is permissible, in all facest fo life, under Islamic law
• It extends to the dietary standard prescribed in the Qur’an 
• While researching emulsifiers, Fozia & Farzana found that 70% of them are harmful and not halal
• Emulsifiers are listed on packaging using codes that incomprehensible to those unfamiliar with them
• They pooled in their pocket money, & Fozia’s sister sent them equipment