Shawarma

Ever since “The Avengers” came out, we’ve all been curious about shawarma.  I myself was never curious enough to try and find out exactly what it was – at least not until I had to listen to Wendy talk to Dad about it on the phone for like HALF AN HOUR!  Seriously?!  (Admittedly, this conversation was more interesting than listening to them talk about the Twilight movies for like HALF AN HOUR!  I swear, he’s like a twelve year old girl!  Please don’t anyone get him started on Justin Bieber!)  Anyway, I thought I’d solve the great shawarma mystery for us all and just look it up on Wikipedia.  According to Wikipedia, shawarma is:

a Levantine Arab^[1][2] meat preparation, where lamb, goat, chicken, turkey, beef, veal, or mixed meats are placed on a spit (commonly a vertical spit in restaurants), and may be grilled for as long as a day. Shavings are cut off the block of meat for serving, and the remainder of the block of meat is kept heated on the rotating spit. Although it can be served in shavings on a plate (generally with accompaniments), shawarma also refers to a pita bread sandwich or wrap made with shawarma meat. Shawarma is eaten with tabbouleh, fattoush, taboon bread, tomato, and cucumber. Toppings include tahini, hummus, pickled turnips and amba. Shawarma is a fast-food staple across the Middle East, Europe, the Caucasus and Ottawa, Canada.

Wow.  Those people in Ottawa are some wild and crazy Canadians!

I saw them serving a variation of shawarma in Mexico when I was there.  (I didn’t know at the time that it was shawarma but Wikipedia has just educated me about that as well.  Who needs college, right?)  They sell it out of little carts on the street the way we do hot dogs.  In my experience, it is unwise to eat foods sold out of little carts on the street anywhere, much less in Mexico, so if you want to try shawarma, I think you should go to Ottawa.  Then call me and tell me how it was.