RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
Sectarian violence in Iraq has mostly subsided. We're talking about the divisions between Sunni Muslims and Shia Muslims, which turned into terrible bloodshed after Saddam Hussein was thrown out of power in 2003. The question of sect is still an important part of people's identities, even if the streets are a little quieter. That question even permeates decisions about food. NPR's Kelly McEvers has this report on sectarian chicken.
KELLY MCEVERS: Full disclosure. We first heard about this story in our own kitchen, here in Baghdad. For months we were eating a brand of chicken called Sadia. It's produced abroad and distributed in this region by predominantly Sunni Arab countries. Bashir Ahmed, who does a lot of the cooking, says all of a sudden Sadia was forbidden.
BASHIR AHMED: (Through translator) The majority here, they told me we're not going to eat Sadia anymore. So if you bring Sadia, you have to tell us in advance, so we do not eat it. So I had to bring Khafeel.
MCEVERS: At a wholesale market in east Baghdad, the first thing you see in the chicken section is a big poster with the fatwa, or religious ruling, that sanctions Khafeel chicken. But many people say the religious institution that issued the fatwa is also profiting from the boost in sales of Khafeel chicken. Shop owner Abu Zuhair says that's wrong.
ABU ZUHAIR: (Through translator) This should not be a money issue. It should be a way for the religious establishment to help poor people.
MCEVERS: It's common to complain about corruption in Iraq. But it's actually impolite to overtly talk about sectarianism, says Shirouk Abayachi, who heads an Iraqi think tank.
SHIROUK ABAYACHI: For me, and for other Iraqis, we hate this word, sectarian. We hate it. We try - we avoid to announce it anymore or to have it in our speech.
MCEVERS: Back in our kitchen, we've decided to buy chicken from Turkey as a kind of compromise. But that's not good enough for reporter Leith Hammoudi.
LEITH HAMMOUDI: Turkey is not - I don't know what - I don't trust Turkey. I don't really trust them.
MCEVERS: So are we going to get to point, though, where we have like, OK, here's Khafeel for you and Sadia for you?
HAMMOUDI: I hope we don't reach this thing.
MCEVERS: Kelly McEvers, NPR News, Baghdad.