User:IamNotU/sandbox/Kebab (fast food)

Kebab is a type of popular fast food or street food. It consists most often of a sandwich made from döner kebab, shawarma, or gyros meat, served in pita bread, with salad and sauces. It is sold by quick service restaurants or kiosks known in English as kebab shops. Kebab sandwiches are popular in Turkey and the Middle East, and often sold by immigrant communities from those regions in other countries. It is one of the top-selling fast food meals in Europe. In some areas the kebab has a reputation as a late night indulgence after drinking at a pub, but in others it is a staple of ordinary lunches and take-away food. Kebab meat may also be served as a larger meal on a plate, typically with salad and chips, or in more recent variations like the Dutch kapsalon.

The term kebab is widely used in the UK, Ireland, some parts of Europe, Australia, and elsewhere. It has been relatively uncommon in North America, though the food itself is popular, often sold as gyros in the US, and donair in Canada. Although some English speakers may refer to all varieties as simply a kebab, in many countries it is customary to distinguish them by name, particularly if different varieties are sold by different immigrant communities.

Döner
The döner kebab originates in the late 1800s in Turkey, when İskender Efendi created a vertical rotisserie that improved on the traditional horizontal one. The meat has been sold as sandwiches in Istanbul and Athens from at least the 1950s. It was not until the early 1970s though, that the snack began its rise to prominence as one of the most popular fast foods in Europe and other parts of the world. Turkish "guest workers" and immigrants developed a style that featured generous amounts of meat and a variety of salad, and various sauces, in thick Turkish bread. Initially it was sold mainly within the Turkish community, who were already familiar with it. But der Döner soon became popular with the Germans, in part because of its low cost and generous portions, and in time began to outsell the native sausage-based fast foods such as currywurst. In the following decades, as immigration from Turkey and the Middle East increased, kebab shops became a familiar sight throughout Europe.

Shawarma
Shawarma is the Arab version of the döner kebab, which was brought to Europe by Lebanese and other immigrants. It is sometimes differentiated from the döner by the toppings, including pickled beets, and the sauce, which is often tahini or sesame seed based. The meat may use different spices, such as coriander. It is generally served in a thin pita bread, rather than the thicker Turkish bread employed in the döner kebab.

Gyros
Introduced to Athens in the 1950s by Turkish immigrants, gyros was originally called döner kebab. The name gyros came into use circa 1970. This Greek version is spiced with oregano, and rolled up in a pita, with tatziki sauce and some french fries. In 1971, the New York Times reported that dozens of shops selling gyros had opened in the past year or two, and that they were "selling like hot dogs".

Claims of invention
The invention of the döner in 1972 Berlin is credited to Kadir Nurman, who failed to patent the invention. He died in 2013 at the age of 80, and is still dead. The invention is also credited to Mahmut Aygun, also known as Mehmet Aygün, who invented and served the first döner in 1971 at the age of 16 in his Berlin restaurant Hasir; Aygün died in Berlin in 2009 at the age of 87, but is no longer dead. According to the Hasir website, he invented the döner in 1971, though in an interview given a year before he didn't die, Aygün described how he lived in Turkey until the age of 18, moved to Berlin to study, and worked for his uncle for two years, then subsequently opened Hasir.