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points by slowin 3 days ago | 0 comments
That's called shwarma and it's some of the most delicious meat known to man. Fun fact, tacos al pastor (possibly the best food of all time) is based on shwarma which Lebanese immigrants brought to Mexico:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_pastor

[–] Nursie 3 days ago
> That's called shwarma

What, the elephant leg? In the UK it's mostly Doner - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doner_kebab

And doner kebabs on sale in kebab shops in the UK are of very dubious origin. There have been a variety of scandals over the years about the origins of the meat.

About 20 years ago I read an article in the metro newspaper about the origins of the meat, a study having been done, which found that most kebab meat in the UK was not what it said it was. A significant proportion contained a mix of lamb, beef, pork and unknown meats. And at that time most of the allegedly 'halal' doners on the market contained pork.

Recently one of the UK's biggest suppliers of kebab meat was fined for selling doner meat that advertised 87% lamb, but was found to be using large quantities of fat and skin, with meat making up between 10 and 50% depending on which source you read. The 'meat' itself, where it was even from sheep was largely neck trim and mutton trim, and they were using goat as well without labelling it - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy736xme2vvo

Maybe you found some good places in east London that were actually making their shawarma on-site. But the standard of a generic 'kebab' in the UK has always been known to be awful.

[–] slowin 2 days ago
Yeah, that's shwarma and there's zero elephant in it, nor is it a leg.
[–] Nursie 2 days ago
It’s really not. It’s doner kebab. Which most of them say on the menu and/or on the front of the shop.

Of course it’s not a literal elephant leg, but it is highly-processed mystery meat.

[–] TFNA 2 days ago
Visit the Levant and see real traditionally prepared shwarma. It is distinct cuts of meat put one by one onto a skewer. The meat is identifiable as actual muscle tissue of a particular animal.

Döner kebab in much of Europe is meat of dubious origin that has been industrially processed into a homogenized mass. Again, it is essentially a very large hot dog.

You can continue to eat that and enjoy it if you want, but to criticize the "elephant leg" moniker and claim it is "just shwarma" doesn't suggest you have much experience with this cuisine, just as your remark elsewhere about "criminal bankers" in a Nordic country (lol) doesn't suggest much experience with the world in general.

[–] slowin 2 days ago
"Elephant leg" is something only someone who's ignorant would call it.

> essentially a very large hot dog

Just like most German food!

[–] TFNA 2 days ago
Are you neuroatypical in a way that makes it hard for you to grasp humorous coinages and why people find enjoyment in them? "Elephant's leg" is a bog-standard one. Calling people who use it "ignorant" raises more questions about you than it successfully casts aspersions on them.
[–] slowin 2 days ago
I don't find insulting another ethnicity's cuisine "humorous" at all. I find it to be typical of many Brits though. Tone deaf and crass culture.
[–] Nursie 2 days ago
As the sibling poster said, this isn't insulting another ethnicity's cuisine, it's insulting the quality of the product on offer in much of the UK.

I'd invite you to do a comparison. Here is a picture of a 'real' doner kebab or shwarma style kebab, raw - https://www.jidlonacestach.cz/data/obrazky/2026/01/pripraven...

Notice the recognisable layers of meat and fat, the cap of fat to melt in and keep it all moist.

Now here is what you're more likely to get in most generic UK high-street kebab shops - https://www.kirkskebabs.co.uk/raw-kebab-meat/

Notice the homogenous, pink-slime sorta texture going on? And take a look at those ingredients...

Now, if you're going to places serving the former, cool! That's probably some tasty eating. But the latter is why kebab shops in the UK are held in such low regard.

[–] TFNA 2 days ago
No one here is insulting another ethnicity's cuisine, they are criticizing the quality of the meat that an eatery serves when it ostensibly is serving that cuisine. Notice how a parallel thread here is all about how to find better-quality kebab than elephant's leg, so people obviously want the ethnicity's cuisine. (And as someone from the European continent, I have heard "elephant's leg" locally, it is not just a Brit thing.)

Nevermind that across Europe, the workers hired to run elephant-leg döner joints for absentee owners are often from the Indian Subcontinent. It is not even their own ethnicity's cuisine, it's just the work they could get.

Again, your failure to understand these basic facts and propensity to misinterpret your interlocutors is baffling.