Gyro, Donair, Shawarma, Al Pastor

The Turkish doner kebab is a wrap, filled with meat cooked on a vertical spit. Outside of Turkey, it’s taken off like a rocket ship in Germany. It’s the dominant street food and has experienced culinary evolution.

It’s the progenitor for the Arab shawarma, Greek gyros, Canadian donair, and Mexican al pastor.

Core Elements

The construction of these sandwiches shares much similarity. Vertical spit roasted meat is cooked and wrapped in a flatbread.

The meat is prepared in a cylinder/cone and stood up vertically. The heat source runs parallel, in the form of hot flames or broiler element. The spit is constantly rotating. As meat browns and cooks, it’s shaved off, which exposes new surface to be browned.

Variations

Doner Kebab

Lamb is traditional but it’s common to see beef and chicken. These meats are cheaper to source.

Doner kebab was introduced to Germany in 1970’s and it’s taken off since then. It’s the most popular fast food option.

The name means “rotating roast meat”.

Shawarma

Shawarma is found in Arab countries, originating from the doner kebab.

Traditionally made with lamb. It can be found with chicken, turkey, or beef.

Warm spices are used: cumin, cardamom, cinnamon, turmeric, and paprika.

The name means “rotating”.

Gyros

Introduced to Greece after World War 2, these are a Greek variation of the doner kebab.

Traditionally made with pork and served with tzatziki sauce. It’s commonly served with onions, tomatoes, and french fries.

Gyros is actually a singular word, it’s a loan word from Greek. It’s been misinterpreted as being plural and it’s common to see gyro as the singular form. This is strictly an English language introduction.

The name means “turn”.

Donair

This is a regional specialty of Halifax but has made its way across the country since. It was introduced to Canada in the 1970’s by Greek immigrants.

These are based on gyros but named after the doner kebab:

• pork is replaced with spiced beef
• greek pita is replaced Lebanese flatbread
• tzatziki is replaced with donair sauce, which is sweet.

The name is clearly alluding to the doner kebab, even if it started life as a modified gyros.

Al Pastor

Al pastor was introduced to Mexico by way of Lebanese immigrants in the early 1900s. It’s based on the shawarma.

Al pastor is made with pork, marinated in adobo spices. The tacos are served with corn tortillas, onions, cilantro, and pineapple.

The name means “shepherd style”, referencing the lamb used in shawarma. It’s also known as tacos de trompo, where trompo means a spinning top. This alludes to the cone shape of the spit.

Taco de adobada is another related name. Adobada is spanish for marinated, making this a more generic name. Some people try to make a distinction, where al pastor is cooked on a spit and adobada is cooked in a pan or oven. In practice however, they’re used interchangeably and it’s possible to get taco de al pastor that is cooked on a grill top, or taco de adobada that is cooked on a spit (it’s still marinated!).