iron man shawarma

"You ever try shawarma? There's a shawarma joint about two blocks from here. I don't know what it is, but I wanna try it." This is what Iron Man/Robert Downey Jr., lying flat on his back with his mask smashed off, tells Captain America in The Avengers.

Shawarma! Iron Man uttered the magic word and there was a stampede of movie goers running directly from theater to shawarma joints everywhere.... in Los Angeles, anyway. Seriously, TMZ reports that on opening weekend "sales of shawarma went through the roof." But what happens in LA doesn't have to stay in LA.

Those of you who already know what shawarma is are nodding your heads and thinking, "yes, of course, shawarma is awesome." And the rest of you may be wondering, "What is this shawarma of which you speak? I don't know what it is, but now I wanna try it, too!"

You know that spinning spit of meat you sometimes see at Greek or Lebanese restaurants? And the meat isn't in the shape of an animal, it's just this big hunk the chefs cut slices from and flop into your sandwich or on a platter with hummus and baba ganoush. That's shawarma. Later on in the movie the whole gang gathers around the table to nosh on the stuff. Here's a pirated video of the two scenes. Watch before it gets taken down!

There's probably at least one shawarma joint in the closest city near you. There's even a shawarma restaurant in Pawnee Indiana! Actually, I'm not sure about that in real life. But a couple weeks ago in Parks and Recreation after Ben Wyatt dragged Ron Swanson to that meditation center Ron discovered a shawarma joint next door and that kind of made up for all that meditation nonsense he suffered through.

And you know Ron Swanson. If it's meat, and he's into it, it must be good.

Have you ever tried shawarma? Are you a fan?

 

Image via yummyporky/Flickr