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This book explores the emergence and expansion of global kosher and halal markets with a particular focus on the UK and Denmark. Kosher is a Hebrew term meaning “fit” or “proper” while halal is an Arabic word that literally means “permissible” or “lawful”. This is the first book of its kind to explore kosher and halal comparatively at different levels of the social scale such as individual consumption, the marketplace, religious organisations and the state. Within the last two decades or so, kosher and halal markets have become global in scope and states, manufacturers, restaurants, shops, certifiers and consumers around the world are faced with ever stricter and more complex kosher and halal requirements. The book is based on extended periods of research carried out in the UK and Denmark where kosher and halal are of particular significance. The research question in this book is: What are the consequences of globalising kosher and halal markets? This book argues that the similarities and differences between kosher and halal consumption, production and regulation in different national contexts are not well understood. We further argue that to better understand global kosher and halal markets these should be explored at different levels of the social scale. The book will be appropriate for students in a variety of upper-level undergraduate courses and graduate seminars as well as academics of food (science), sociology/anthropology, religion, globalisation, politics, economics, business/management as well as companies that are or want to be kosher/halal certified. It will also be of interest to religious organisations and policy makers.

Through its focus on secular Muslim public intellectuals in contemporary France, this book challenges polarizing accounts of Islam and Muslims, which have been ubiquitous in political and media debates for the last thirty years. The work of these intellectuals is significant because it expresses, in diverse ways, an ‘internal’ vision of Islam which demonstrates how Muslim identification and practices successfully engage with and are part of a culture of secularism (laïcité). The study of individual Muslim secular intellectuals in contemporary France thus takes seriously the claim that the categories of religion and the secular are more closely intertwined than we might assume. This monograph is a timely publication which makes a crucial contribution to academic and political debates about the place of Islam and Muslims in contemporary France. The book will focus on a discursive and contextualised analysis of the published works and public interventions of Abdelwahab Meddeb, Malek Chebel, Leïla Babès, Dounia Bouzar and Abdennour Bidar - intellectuals who have received little scholarly attention despite being well-known figures in France.