Shawarma

A plain shawarma of meat, sauce, and bread, from
the coffee shop by my house, a great late night
dinner.

          Love at first bite. It came in a small green plastic bag that everything comes in here, it was tightly, neatly, wrapped in white paper. Less than 15 minutes before it had been just ingredients scattered across a restaurant's kitchen, now, still warm it was in my hands, my very first shawarma.
          Seasoned shawarma chicken, amba (a sweet, spicy, mango sauce), lettuce, french fries, and tomatoes, wrapped in soft, fresh, flat bread. The flavors were perfectly blended and balanced, with this masterpiece I discovered the best fast food on the planet. 

There is an abundance of these Coffee Shops/ Restaurants
which sell coffee, fruit juices, shawarmas and fried foods. 

A shawarma spit that roasts the turning
meat electrically. Photo Credit.

                     Originating from Turrkey, shawarma is very popular through out the Middle East, it is some times referred to as Middle Eastern Taco. Here, it's sold in all the local fast food places called coffee shops, as well as Turkish and Lebanese restaurants. It is often prepared in a room made of plastic boarding attached to the side of the restaurant, with a window that opens into the street where shawarma is ordered and bought. The common price seems to be 300 baiza, or $0.78 USD per wrap. A traditional Middle Eastern fast food, shawarma, makes me wonder how McDonald's and Burger King survive here, I

would never take a plain Big Mac over this sandwich.

What makes the taste of shawarma so special, is the chicken or sometimes lamb inside. The seasoned meat is slowly roasted on a vertical spit and cut directly from this spit as the sandwich is assembled. This spit roasted meat is what gives shawarma it's unique taste. 

            I had my first shawarma two weeks into my stay, and I've had it many many times since. It's what we eat when our host mother doesn't feel like making dinner, when we're hungry after Arabic class, or on the ride home when our driver stops for prayer. Each shawarma comes with different ingredients added to the base of chicken and flat bread; some have garlic mayonnaise, hummus, or no sauce at all. Some have vegetables, some don't. The better wraps have fries and lettuce. I've found that the shawarmas with more ingredients tend to be better that are just chicken, sauce, and bread.  Though I've had several great shawarmas since, I'm still haunted by my first shawarma, which I believe was the best.