Food: Shawarma

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FOOD: SHAWARMA

A lamb-based meatloaf sold by street vendors and in restaurants.

Shawarma is a popular Levantine Arab specialty. A combination of lean and fatty sliced or ground lamb is seasoned with onion, garlic, allspice, cinnamon, coriander, or other ingredients and molded in conical form around a large skewer that is adjusted to a vertical rotisserie. The outside becomes crusty brown as it cooks, is sliced off and wrapped in flat bread and served with chopped onions, tomatoes, and cucumber-yogurt sauce. Shawarma is also popular in Greece and Turkey where it is called gyro and döner kebab, respectively. Shawarma is sold by street vendors and restaurants but rarely made at home.

Clifford A. Wright