Shawarma Explained

Shawarma
Alternate Name:Showarma, shaurma, shoarma, etc.
Place Of Origin:Turkey[1]
Region:Levant
Associated Cuisine:Arab
Type:Rotisserie
Served:Hot
Main Ingredient:Meat (traditionally lamb or mutton, but also chicken, turkey, beef, or veal); pita, laffa, lavash, or any other suitable bread for a wrap; chopped or shredded vegetables; assorted condiments
Similar Dish:Doner kebab, İskender kebap, gyros, al pastor

Shawarma (; ar|شاورما) is a Middle Eastern dish that originated during the Ottoman Empire,[2] [3] consisting of meat that is cut into thin slices, stacked in an inverted cone, and roasted on a slow-turning vertical spit. Traditionally made with lamb or mutton, it may also be made with chicken, turkey meat, beef, falafel or veal.[4] [5] [6] The surface of the rotisserie meat is routinely shaved off once it cooks and is ready to be served.[7] [8] Shawarma is a popular street food throughout the Arab world, Israel and the Greater Middle East.[9] [10] [11]

Etymology

The name in Arabic is a rendering of the term in Turkish (pronounced as /tr/,), referring to rotisserie.[12]

History

The technique of shawarma - grilling a vertical stack of meat slices and cutting it off as it cooks - originated in Turkey during the Ottoman Empire around the 1830s in the form of döner kebab,[13] [14] [15] which both the Greek gyros and the Levantine shawarma are derived from.[16] The innovation of this technique is credited by Encyclopedia Britannica to a 19th-century Turkish butcher named Iskender, whose shop in Bursa offered grilled meats that were layered on the vertical spit and slowly carved off into pieces.[17]

Author Socrates Spiro's 1895 Egyptian Arabic-English dictionary translated šāwirma (Arabic: شاورمه) as "rich stew, roast meat".[18]

Shawarma led to the development during the early 20th century of the contemporary Mexican dish tacos al pastor when it was brought there by Lebanese immigrants. The dish is also especially popular in Ottawa, Ontario, where a large community of the Lebanese diaspora exists.[19]

Preparation

Shawarma is prepared from thin cuts of seasoned and marinated lamb, mutton, veal, beef, chicken, or turkey. The slices are stacked on a skewer[20] about high. Pieces of fat may be added to the stack to provide extra juiciness and flavour. A motorized spit slowly turns the stack of meat in front of an electric or gas-fired heating element, continuously roasting the outer layer. Shavings are cut off the rotating stack for serving, customarily with a long, flat knife.

Spices may include cumin, cardamom, cinnamon, turmeric or paprika, and in some areas baharat.[21] [22] Shawarma is commonly served as a sandwich or wrap, in a flatbread such as pita, shrak (saj), laffa or lavash.[23] [24] [25] In the Middle East, chicken shawarma is typically served with garlic sauce, fries, and pickles. The garlic sauce served with the sandwich depends on the meat. Toum or toumie sauce is made from garlic, vegetable oil, lemon, and egg white or starch, and is usually served with chicken shawarma. Tarator sauce is made from garlic, tahini sauce, lemon, and water, and is served with beef shawarma.

In Israel, most shawarma is made with dark-meat turkey, commonly served with tahina sauce instead of yogurt for kashrut reasons. It is often garnished with diced tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, pickled vegetables, hummus, garlic mayo, tahini sauce, sumac, or amba mango sauce. Some restaurants offer additional toppings, including grilled peppers, eggplant, or French fries.[26]

In Armenia and Georgia, shawarma is traditionally made with thin cuts of marinated meat which is left marinating overnight in spices such as coriander, cumin, cardamom, paprika, garlic, lemon juice, and olive oil.[27]

Some forgo the vertical spit in favor of a more traditional horizontal spit; this allows cooking over hot coals rather than electrical heaters, similar to cağ kebabı.[28]

Nigerian Sharwama is a staple streetfood in Lagos.[29] In Nigeria the veggies are different as typically there are no tomatoes or onions in most Nigerian style sharwama but rather shredded cabbage and sometimes shredded carrots too.[30] Nigerian shawarma uses spices like garlic, thyme, cumin, onion power, black pepper, paprika as well as boullion cubes.[31] [32] Hot dog or sausage is also added to the sharwama. The sauce is a creamy blend of salad cream, mayo and ketchup with pepper powder.[33] [34] There are three main variants, chicken sharwama, beef sharwama and a combo version of both meat.[35]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: shawarma. www.britannica.com.
  2. Web site: Prichep . Deena . Estrin . Daniel . 2015-05-07 . Thank the Ottoman Empire for the taco al pastor . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20150508144455/https://www.pri.org/stories/2015-05-07/thank-ottoman-empire-taco-youre-eating . 2015-05-08 . 19 March 2017 . PRI.
  3. Book: Philip Mattar. Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East & North Africa: D-K. 2004. Macmillan Reference USA. 978-0-02-865771-4. 840. 2015-11-14. 2023-04-21. https://web.archive.org/web/20230421034930/https://books.google.com/books?id=yqgUAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Shawarma+is+a+popular+Levantine+Arab+specialty.%22. live.
  4. Book: Ken. Albala. Food Cultures of the World Encyclopedia. 197, 225, 250, 260–261, 269. ABC-CLIO. 2011. 9780313376269. Google Books. 2020-10-20. 2023-04-21. https://web.archive.org/web/20230421034933/https://books.google.com/books?id=NTo6c_PJWRgC&q=shawarma. live.
  5. Book: Davidson, Alan. The Oxford Companion to Food. Oxford University Press. 2014. 9780191040726. Jaine. Tom. Oxford Companions. Oxford. 259. 1119636257. Google Books.
  6. Book: Marks, Gil. Encyclopedia of Jewish Food. Wiley. 2010. 9780544186316. Hoboken, N.J.. 849738985. Google Books. 2018-08-10. 2023-04-21. https://web.archive.org/web/20230421034939/https://books.google.com/books?id=gFK_yx7Ps7cC&pg=PT1682. live.
  7. Book: Mattar, Philip. Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East & North Africa: D-K. Macmillan Library Reference. 2004. 9780028657714. Hardcover. 2. 840. 469317304. Shawarma is a popular Levantine Arab specialty.. 2015-11-14. 2023-04-21. https://web.archive.org/web/20230421034930/https://books.google.com/books?id=yqgUAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Shawarma+is+a+popular+Levantine+Arab+specialty.%22. live.
  8. Book: La Boone, III, John A.. Around the World of Food: Adventures in Culinary History. iUniverse, Inc. 2006. 0595389686. Paperback. 115. 70144831. Shawarma - An Arab sandwich similar to the gyro.. 2020-10-20. 2023-04-21. https://web.archive.org/web/20230421034935/https://books.google.com/books?id=Ier6CmQ-e-kC&q=Shawarma+arab&pg=PA115. live.
  9. Book: الهواري, د عبد القادر . أسلمة العالم . ببلومانيا للنشر والتوزيع . 54 . ar.
  10. Book: Street Food Around the World: An Encyclopedia of Food and Culture. Kraig. Bruce. Sen. Colleen Taylor. ABC-CLIO. 2013. 978-1598849554. Santa Barbara, California. xxv, 18–19, 127–129, 339. 864676073.
  11. Book: Oman, UAE & Arabian Peninsula. registration. Lonely Planet. 2007. 978-1-74104-546-8. 381–. Jenny Walker. Terry Carter. Lara Dunston.
  12. Web site: Shawarma: the Arabic fast food. Al Khan. Mohammed N.. 31 July 2009. Gulf News. 7 January 2018. 4 March 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180304025404/http://gulfnews.com/news/uae/culture/shawarma-the-arabic-fast-food-1.503641. live.
  13. News: Eberhard Seidel-Pielen . May 10, 1996 . Döner-Fieber sogar in Hoyerswerda . Doner fever even in Hoyerswerda . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20211225095338/https://www.zeit.de/1996/20/Doener-Fieber_sogar_in_Hoyerswerda . December 25, 2021 . May 6, 2016 . Die Zeit . de . Neither in the written recipes of the medieval Arab cuisine nor in the Turkish cookbooks from the first half of the 19th century are there any indications. According to research carried out by Turkish master chef Rennan Yaman, who lives in Berlin, the doner kebab is an amazingly young creation of Ottoman cuisine. (Quote translated from the German).
  14. Book: The Cambridge World History of Food, Volume 2 . 2000 . Cambridge University Press . 9780521402156 . Kiple . Kenneth F. . 1147 . Bursa is the town that gave birth to the world-famous doner kebab, meat roasted on a vertical revolving spit. . 2019-07-23 . Ornelas . Kriemhild Coneè . https://web.archive.org/web/20230421034934/https://books.google.com/books?id=Vr2qnK_QOuAC&pg=PA1147 . 2023-04-21 . live . Google Books.
  15. Web site: shawarma . Encyclopedia Britannica . en.
  16. Book: Kremezi, Aglaia . Aglaia Kremezi . Food and Language: Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cooking 2009 . Prospect Books . 2010 . 9781903018798 . Hosking . Richard . 28 . Totnes . 203–204 . What's in the Name of a Dish? . 624419365 . 2019-07-23 . https://books.google.com/books?id=3ilvBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT202 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230115045842/https://books.google.com/books?id=3ilvBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT202 . 2023-01-15 . live.
  17. Web site: shawarma . Encyclopedia Britannica . en.
  18. Book: Spiro . Socrates . An Arabic-English Vocabulary of the Colloquial Arabic of Egypt: Containing the Vernacular Idioms and Expressions, Slang Phrases, Etc., Etc., Used by the Native Egyptians . 1895 . Al-Mokattam printing office . 301 . 14 December 2025 . ar.
  19. News: Deachman . Bruce . 2017-09-02 . Shawarma: the staple of Ottawa cuisine . 2024-02-25 . Ottawa Citizen.
  20. Web site: Blogs - Revolutionizing Flavor: The Ultimate Guide to Shawarma Machines Chinese restaurant equipment manufacturer and wholesaler . 2024-10-21 . www.twothousand.com.
  21. News: Guttman . Vered . 2017-05-01 . How to Make Shawarma Like an Israeli . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20201112033724/https://www.haaretz.com/food/.premium-how-to-make-shawarma-like-an-israeli-1.5467110 . 2020-11-12 . 2019-02-16 . Haaretz.
  22. Book: The Arabian Nights Cookbook: From Lamb Kebabs to Baba Ghanouj, Delicious Homestyle Arabian Cooking. Salloum. Habeeb. Lim. Suan L.. Tuttle Pub. 2010. 9781462905249. Tokyo. 66. 782879761. 2019-02-16. 2023-04-21. https://web.archive.org/web/20230421034936/https://books.google.com/books?id=v5TTAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA66. live.
  23. Book: Al-Masri, Mohammad. Colloquial Arabic (Levantine): The Complete Course for Beginners. Routledge.
  24. Web site: A search for exceptional Syrian-style shawarma leads to the San Fernando Valley . Los Angeles Times . 20 April 2025 . 27 July 2023.
  25. Web site: Dining In: Laheeb Shawarma and Laheeb Grill lifting the bar for Middle Eastern fast food . Ottawa Citizen . 20 April 2025 . en-CA.
  26. News: Shawarma, the Iconic Israeli Street Food, Is Slowly Making a Comeback in Tel Aviv. Laor. Eran. 2019-01-10. Haaretz. 2019-02-16. 2022-03-05. https://web.archive.org/web/20220305064546/https://www.haaretz.com/food/.premium-shawarma-the-iconic-israeli-street-food-is-slowly-making-a-comeback-in-tel-aviv-1.6824350. live.
  27. Web site: Tasty Yerevan Eat the World Los Angeles . 2023-11-03 . www.eattheworldla.com.
  28. Web site: 13 best shawarmas in Jeddah that won't let you down . Time Out Jeddah . 24 July 2025 . 20 Nov 2022.
  29. Web site: Mum . Naija UK . 2021-02-02 . How To Make Nigerian Home Made Chicken Shawarma - Naija UK Mum . 2026-01-06 . en-GB.
  30. Web site: Chicken Shawarma (Nigerian style) - KikiFoodies . 2026-01-06 . en-US.
  31. Web site: Chicken Shawarma (Nigerian style) - KikiFoodies . 2026-01-06 . en-US.
  32. Web site: Shawarma: Chicken Shawarma . 2026-01-06 . All Nigerian Recipes . en-US.
  33. Web site: 2017-08-21 . Gifted Culinarian — Turkey-Chicken Shawarma (with a Nigerian twist) . 2026-01-06 . Gifted Culinarian . en-US.
  34. Web site: Mum . Naija UK . 2021-02-02 . How To Make Nigerian Home Made Chicken Shawarma - Naija UK Mum . 2026-01-06 . en-GB.
  35. Web site: Chicken Shawarma (Nigerian style) - KikiFoodies . 2026-01-06 . en-US.

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