Shawarma. I have no idea what it's made of, but I know it's delicious. There's a ton of Mediterranean food places around Chicago, so I've got my pick of the litter. For some reason I just can't stay away from the shawarma. If you're a Joss Whedon fan (he created Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, Agents of SHIELD, as well as directed all of the Avenger movies), then you may know that shawarma is a weird inside joke between him and many of his coworkers, aka famous actors. It's even mentioned at the end of the Avengers movie. Tony quips, "Anybody up for shawarma?" There's also an after-credits scene that involves shawarma.

Last week I talked about bagels, but this week I went to an Indian restaurant where I've had shawarma before, as well as a Mediterranean restaurant. I can't get enough of it! I may just be writing about my favorite food of the week every week. Haha.

Shawarma is actually Arabic. Then again, most "Mediterranean" places around are usually Mediterranean and Middle-Eastern. There's also a lot of Indian and Middle-Eastern restaurants, too. I guess shawarma is a great in-between food. It is most commonly served on some sort of pita bread, like a wrap. If it's not served in a wrap it's just called shawarma meat. Around here you can really only find it in chicken or beef, although it works great with lamb and turkey, too. Basically, it's the Arab way of making the gyro (Greek) or doner kebab (Turkish). There's often a hummus base, and/or tahini, which is a sesame dish and often found in hummus. Toppings can include turnips, tomatoes, onion, parsley, and cucumbers. And there's usually a garlic or chili-based sauce.

The thing that sets shawarma, gyros, and kebabs apart is the vertical spit of meat being flame roasted. The meat is shaved off as the spit turns and the strips are wrapped in the pita bread with the toppings and sauce. It's like international fast food. Throughout the Middle-Eastern countries, it's even served with fries. There are a lot of different variations of toppings and sauces depending on where you get it. Across Chicago, it's a pretty basic selection. I imagine if we travelled to the Middle-East and Eastern Europe, we'd see far more variation. You can find shawarma in Jordan, Libya, Egypt, Lebanon, Israel, Syria, Pakistan, Turkey, India, and Saudi Arabia. It's also made its way into Europe, though I imagine it's served in Europe in a similar way it is served here. When Rhett lived in Portugal, he mostly ate doner kebabs, shawarma wasn't the thing, even though they are similar.

Extra bonus: it's actually pretty healthy. Lots of protein between the hummus and meat, the toppings as you can see are mostly vegetable. The sauces, which are where you get most of the fat and calories, are only put on in small amounts. Pita bread is a great option for those looking to be healthy, it's low fat and low cholesterol, though similar to a regular piece of bread in calories and carbs.

Go find yourself some shawarma! Got any fun spins or different styles that you like to make it? Share with me in the comments! So…anybody up for shawarma?