Shawarma

• 1. Introduction

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  Shawarma begins with a tall cone of stacked meat turning slowly beside a source of heat. As the outer layer cooks, a cook shaves it away in thin pieces, and the cone keeps turning. That simple routine plays out at street stalls across the Middle East. The dish has travelled far from the Levant, and its name has travelled with it. Where does that name come from? Who first thought of stacking meat on a vertical spit? And how can one dish end up so different in Israel, in Armenia and in Lagos?

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• 2. A Word From Turkish

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  In 1895, Socrates Spiro published an Egyptian Arabic-English dictionary with an entry for the word šāwirma, written شاورمه in Arabic script. He translated it as "rich stew, roast meat". The name is attested in both English and Arabic from the 19th century onward. The modern Arabic shāwarmā is a rendering of the Turkish word çevirme, which refers to rotisserie cooking. So the name itself preserves a memory of Turkish kitchens. That Turkish root hints at where the cooking method must have come from.

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• 3. Iskender of Bursa

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  Britannica credits a 19th-century Turkish butcher named Iskender with the key innovation. His shop in Bursa served grilled meats layered on a vertical spit and carved off slowly into pieces. The technique appeared under the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century as döner kebab. Two famous dishes descend from it: the Greek gyros and the Levantine shawarma. Shawarma itself originated in the Levant during Ottoman rule, and it spread as a street food through the Arab world, Israel and the wider Middle East. Early in the 20th century, it would reach a far more distant kitchen.

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• 4. Lebanese Travelers

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  Lebanese immigrants carried shawarma to Mexico during the early 20th century. There it led to the development of tacos al pastor, now counted as a contemporary Mexican dish. Another Lebanese community keeps the dish alive in Ottawa, Ontario. That city has a large Lebanese diaspora, and shawarma is especially popular there. Both stories rest on the same object, a tall stack of marinated meat, and the details of building it deserve a closer look.

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• 5. Building the Stack

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  A finished shawarma stack stands about 60 cm high on its skewer. Cooks build it from thin cuts of seasoned and marinated meat. Lamb and mutton are the traditional choices, but veal, beef, chicken and turkey are all common. Falafel can also take the place of meat. Pieces of fat are sometimes added to the stack, which keeps it juicy and adds flavour. A motorized spit turns the whole stack in front of an electric or gas-fired heating element. The outer layer roasts continuously, and a long, flat knife cuts the shavings away for serving. Cumin, cardamom and cinnamon are only part of the seasoning list.

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• 6. Spices and Flatbreads

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  Turmeric and paprika sit alongside cumin, cardamom and cinnamon in the spice mixes used for shawarma. In some areas cooks add baharat as well. The finished meat usually arrives as a sandwich or wrap. Pita is one common bread, and shrak, which is also called saj, is another. Laffa and lavash are the other flatbreads named among the usual choices. Some cooks abandon the vertical spit altogether and use a traditional horizontal one. That lets them cook over hot coals rather than electric heaters, in a manner similar to cağ kebabı. Whatever the bread, the sauce on top changes from country to country.

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• 7. Garlic and Tahini

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  In the Middle East, chicken shawarma typically comes with garlic sauce, fries and pickles. The choice of sauce depends on the meat. Toum, also called toumie, combines garlic, vegetable oil and lemon with either egg white or starch. It usually accompanies chicken. Tarator is made from garlic, tahini sauce, lemon and water, and it is served with beef shawarma. Israeli shawarma follows a different path. Most of it is made from dark-meat turkey, and it comes with tahina instead of yogurt for kashrut reasons. Toppings there include diced tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, pickled vegetables, hummus, garlic mayo, sumac and amba mango sauce. Some restaurants add grilled peppers, eggplant or French fries.

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• 8. Overnight and Lagos

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  In Armenia and Georgia, cooks traditionally leave thin cuts of meat to marinate overnight. The marinade draws on coriander, cumin, cardamom, paprika, garlic, lemon juice and olive oil. Lagos offers a very different version, which Nigerians spell sharwama and treat as a staple street food. Most Nigerian sharwama has no tomatoes or onions. Shredded cabbage fills that role, sometimes with shredded carrots. The spices include garlic, thyme, cumin, onion powder, black pepper and paprika, along with bouillon cubes. A hot dog or sausage is often tucked in as well. The sauce blends salad cream, mayo and ketchup with pepper powder. Chicken, beef and a combination of both make up the three main Nigerian variants.

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