Pork in Oman

Pork is taboo in Islam. Muslims should not eat, prepare or serve pork. In order for a restaurant to serve pork on its menu, it should have a separate fridge, preparation equipment and cooking areas.
The Omani culture is sensitive towards the choices that expats make with regards to their food and will allow an expat to purchase pork products in the supermarket and eat pork in a restaurant. However both establishments have very strict rules that they follow when cooking or selling pork products. 

Supermarkets also require pork to be sold in a completely separate area. You can buy pork mainly from Al Fair supermarkets, but you have to find the walled-off pork section first! The reason for the seperation is so that the pork products do not contaminate any Halal food and so that the products do not offend a person of the Islamic faith. Furthermore the supermarket will have a sign saying "non-muslims only" in place to warn people that they are entering the pork section.

Restaurants have to have a completely seperate kitchen, cutlery, crockery and dish washing equipment in order to be able to serve pork products in Oman. This is a strict requirement and in order for a restaurant to serve pork they have to obtain a licence from the government of the Sultunate and prove that they have the facilities to seperate the food. Serving pork can become pricy because of the fact that the restaurant has to make double purchases and thus the meals may be pricier than normal. 

All meat products for Muslim consumption have to be ‘halal’ – this refers to the method of slaughter. As pork is not locally farmed you will find that it is more expensive than many other meats.

NEW! Mackenzies Deli

There's an exciting new deli and coffee shop in MQ district, Muscat called Mackenzies Deli that sells pork.

You can enjoy their delicious coffee and homemade cakes, whilst browsing theur well-stocked shelves!

They have freshly made artisan breads, Olives et Al olives, jams and pickles, as well as their full range of Scottish salmon, seafood and fresh meat selection.

You can also order on line from them... find out more here www.mackenziesdeli.com