The practice of Islam includes observing dietary laws which come from Islamic teachings. Those laws define what is halal, a word that means lawful or permitted in Arabic. (The opposite of halal is haram, which means disallowed or impermissible.)

According to the American Halal Institute, the word halal can refer to anything that a Muslim can do, wear, say, or eat. When it comes to meat, the only prohibited animals are pigs and reptiles. Beef, lamb, goat, venison, bison, chicken, and game birds can all be halal meat, provided they are sacrificed in a permissible way (zabihah).