shawarma

shawarma, popular street food in the Middle East, which originated in Turkey and is made of spit-roasted layers of lamb, beef, or other meat that are sliced and often wrapped in or served with pita. Shawarma is similar to Greek gyros, though the former is seasoned with more spices and the latter with more herbs. Hummus and tahini are commonly included. The yogurt sauce called tzatziki usually served with gyros is not served with shawarma. French fries often accompany both dishes.

Cooked on a rotating vertical spit in a rotisserie oven, shawarma essentially bastes itself in its own juices, resulting in moist, tender meat. The vertical spit technique is an old one, though the innovation of the rolled style is attributed to a 19th-century Turkish butcher named İskender, whose shop in the city of Bursa offered grilled meats. Rather than cook lamb whole, İskender separated the meat from the bones and muscles and layered it on the upright spit, cooking it slowly and then carving off pieces on demand. This döner kebab, or “rolled kebab,” was adopted in neighbouring countries: in Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan it came to be known in Arabic as shawārmā, a loanword from the Turkish çevirme, or “turn,” and in Greece as gyro, with the same meaning.

As found in Lebanon and Jordan, where it is very nearly the national dish, shawarma is usually made of lamb or beef or a combination of the two. There and throughout the Middle East, it is also made of chicken, turkey, and goat. It is typically spiced with coriander, turmeric, black pepper, cumin, sumac, and other aromatics. Shawarma is usually served with pita bread alongside hummus, rice, pickled vegetables, tabbouleh, and other accompaniments. Many street vendors in the Middle East serve shawarma with french fries, either on the side or layered within the pita-wrapped meat. There are numerous regional and local variations; one kind of shawarma that is especially popular in Istanbul, Turkey, is made of mutton with grilled tomatoes.

Shawarma is a popular dish in Turkish diaspora communities, especially in Germany and Switzerland, and it is a commonplace street food in Israel, in both Arab and Jewish communities, requiring halal and kosher techniques of preparation, respectively; the most popular shawarma meat in Israel is turkey. Vegan “shawarma” is made of roasted vegetables such as cauliflower and onions. Lebanese immigrants introduced shawarma to Mexico, and in the 1960s the technique was used there to cook pork, resulting in the dish called tacos al pastor, or “shepherds’ tacos.”