Is Shawarma Halal?

Shawarma is the Levant's vertical-spit meat: layers of marinated chicken, lamb or beef stacked on a turning skewer, shaved off as they crisp and served in flatbread or on a plate with garlic sauce, pickles and salad.^[1] Those meats are Halal species, and in Beirut, Damascus, Amman or Riyadh a shawarma shop is everyday Halal food. Elsewhere, the dish name is not a certificate: the meat still has to be Islamically slaughtered.^[2]

How a cone is built

The name comes from the Turkish çevirme, "turning". Lamb and beef cones are marinated in vinegar or lemon with baharat spices and often layered with lamb fat so the outside bastes as it roasts; chicken cones are usually marinated in yoghurt, garlic and lemon. Shops in the Levant build their own cones each morning. Across Europe, North America and Australia most shops buy frozen, factory-made cones, and the Halal status of the shop then depends on the certificate of that supplier.

The sauces and sides

• Toum (garlic sauce) is garlic, oil, lemon and salt, sometimes whipped with egg white or potato.
• Tahini sauce, pickled turnips and cucumbers, tomatoes and parsley are plant-based.
• Fries are common inside the wrap in Lebanon; ask what oil they are fried in if the shop also sells pork.

Cousins that are not always Halal

The same vertical-spit method travelled widely. Turkish döner kebab is usually lamb, beef or chicken. Greek gyros is very often pork in Greece and in Greek restaurants abroad. Mexico's tacos al pastor, brought by Lebanese immigrants, is pork. Menus sometimes use these names interchangeably, so check which meat is on the spit rather than trusting the word on the board.

Ordering with confidence

Choose a Muslim-run or Halal-certified shop where you can. Otherwise ask three things: which meat is on each spit, whether that meat is Halal-slaughtered (and who certifies the cone supplier), and whether any pork cone turns on the same grill. A certificate on the wall that names the meat supplier answers all three.