Thursday, July 14, 2022

About Shawarmas

OK, I will relent and tell you about shawarmas, but I must chide some of ye elder bloggers in the process.

Shawarma is a popular Levantine dish consisting of meat cut into thin slices, stacked in a cone-like shape, and roasted on a slowly-turning vertical rotisserie or spit. Originally made with lamb or mutton, it is now also made of chicken, turkey, beef, or veal. Thin slices are shaved off the cooked surface as it continuously rotates. Shawarma is one of the world's most popular street foods, especially in Egypt, Iraq, the countries of the Levant, the Caucasus, the Arabian Peninsula and the rest of the Middle East.
I got that ↑ description in about 30 seconds from Wikipedia via a Google search. It's ain't hard, eh? 😎 It's especially easy on the computer.  You simply highlight a word with a double-left click and do a search with a subsequent right click.

OK, lecture over: here are a few images pilfered from wherever. As you might suspect, the eating thereof can be quite messy, but it is a pretty darn tasty concoction. I always order the chicken shawarma with peppers, onion, lettuce, tomato, and garlic sauce. Scrumptilyicous, I tells yiz all.



Once or twice a summer we will go downtown, get a shawarma and sit by the river to consume the delicacy.. We usually do it with the kids, one time having all cycled there from our place and along the trail to downtown. At least, I think we did that. It's just a town, so the trip isn't quite as onerous as it might seem from my description. We can cycle it in 15 - 20 minutes.

This time around, Shauna picked us up and we drove together. We were going to drive separately and meet there, but with downtown in a bit of an uproar with construction, we decided to just contend with parking one car. As it turned out, parking space was not a problem.

22 comments:

Boud said...

Thank you for the info. You had mentioned someone named Sha, so I thought this must be some family term! Like a family joke, not something to Google. Too funny.

William Kendall said...

It's the garlic that doesn't suit me.

DJan said...

I never heard of them before, but now I'll have to see if they are available around these parts. Looks tasty! :-)

Ed said...

Back in the place we used to live, there was a Turkish restaurant that we used to hit up now and then for delicacies like that.

Barbara Rogers said...

Love that those sandwiches (?) have you choice of ingrediants...my favorite way to get the things I love on it. I did do a Duck Duck search when you mentioned it...and I've eaten meats cut off those poles at a high class restaurant...not put into a sandwich. Wonder if they also qualify...

Vicki Lane said...

Sounds great! A lot like the Greek gyro.

Anvilcloud said...

@Boud. No problem. I confuse a lot of people a lot of the time in a lot of ways.

Marie Smith said...

We, too, are in the second season of the year, construction.

The food looks delicious. Nice way to have a picnic, no work to get ready!

DrumMajor said...

Thanks for the description! Much better to learn about it from you. It does seem like a Greek gyro but with different meat options. Must be kind of regional, as I've never heard the term around K.C. Linda in Kansas

Jenn Jilks said...

It's a great town, really.

RedPat said...

That looks wonderful but must be messy to eat.

PipeTobacco said...

I very much love to eat shawarmas! They are hard to find in my region, so I am always delighted when I find a place on various travels. Although not exactly the same, they are somewhat similar (but Shawarma is more tasty) to Greek Gyros that I am able to easily get in my locale.

PipeTobacco said...

I would agree that they are similar to gyros. But, shawarma tends to be more deliciously spicy and at least in the ones I have had….. more diverse in terms of the vegetation (and meats) used as well.

Karen said...

We have a couple of Lebanese take out places in the Pembroke Petawawa area. The family son was a military bloke. He sadly met his demise overseas. The outpouring of support for the family touched them so hard, they decided to open one of their spots on the base in Petawawa. It expanded into the town, and opened another in Pembroke. Their authentic Lebanese fare is SO GOOD. Madameek is the name. (I LOVE chicken shwarma.)

MARY G said...

Yum. Okay, lazy me never looked it up. Now I have to look up somewhere closer than your town to get one.

Margaret said...

I've never had one and am intrigued. I'm sure I can find one somewhere although I may have to travel to do so.

Beatrice P. Boyd said...

Thanks for the follow up info, John. In my part if the wirld, we call these gyros😋and the prep is the same way. There’s a Greek eatery in Nashua, NH, that even includes fries.

Rita said...

Never heard of them but they look tempting. :)

Jeanie said...

That definition might also add: And Jeanie's favorite order at the Middle Eastern restaurant -- unless the gyro gets picked that day instead!

William Kendall said...

The garlic doesn't agree with me.

Kay said...

This brought to mind the awesome gyros we used to eat from a shop a short distance from our house. However, when we went to Australia I mistakenly ordered a gyros when it was supposed to be a doner. The fellow laughed saying, "This is a doner. It's much better than a gyros." He found us later at the food court eating our doner and he asked, "Well? Isn't it much better?" We've since had gyros, doner and shawarmas and love them all.

Christina said...

I love a shawarma! Chicken for me, with garlicky cucumber yogurt and pomegranate seeds.