A showdown over shawarma has come to Dubai.
It is reported that nearly half of all shawarma stands in Dubai either will be shut down or have stopped selling the popular Mideast street food.
Sultan al-Tahir, head of food inspection in Dubai, said the city-state’s over 570 shawarma stands had six months to update their operations to comply with new hygiene regulations.
Al-Tahir says 113 stopped making the meat wraps, while another 141 took no action and will be shut down. The others followed the rules or are in the process of complying.
Shawarma is typically cooked outdoors, with spiced chicken, lamb and beef shaved off a vertical spit. Al-Tahir said Dubai’s high heat can cause bacteria to spread.
Shawarma, is a unique approach to cooking meat, perfected in the Mountains of Lebanon. Legend has it that this recipe or ‘tidbeeleh’ was discovered somewhere around the middle of the 17th century. A recipe that has been protected passionately for centuries against those that would compromise its quality for commercial gain and hence use it for evil. A recipe that has been passed on selectively and secretively from generation to generation by its owners, evading the rule of colonizing powers.
In the 1950s, this recipe found itself in the hands of a young aspiring Lebanese chef. Passionate about sandwiches, this young chef through the years developed a reputation for making one of the best Shawarma sandwiches the country, and in fact the world, had ever seen. Under the harshest of conditions and through one of the most violent Civil Wars the world had ever known, the chef continued delivering his product to all of Lebanon’s citizens. He became known as ‘Abou Shawarma’, the Arabic translation for ‘the Father of Shawarmas’. His product came to represent happiness, health, and tolerance.
In 2012, troubled by old age and concerned about the continuity of his secret ‘tidbeeleh’, he sought to find someone trustworthy enough to hand over his legacy and the legacy of his ancestors to. The secret recipe founds its way to our doorstep, where, on a sunny Spring morning, we solemnly vowed that its quality would remain uncompromised and that his legacy would continue. Since then, our lives have never been the same.
From a little shop in Beirut, we’ve kept the dream alive. We’ve introduced a new set of secret sauces to complement our variety of shawarma flavors. We’ve developed a strong appreciation and audience for the effort put into our product. We’ve started exporting our knowledge to eager franchisees all over the world. Currently Abou Shawarma can be found in 5 Countries Qatar, Dubai, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Panama.
