SHAWERMA Question - ALL Middle Easterners welcome...?

In the Europe section there is question about kebobs - some say it was invented by the Greeks (the gyros), others that it was invented by the Turks (the kebob). I have a feeling that it was at its origin, Arabic. So, what can you tell me about the history of shawerma? (and baklava, and stuffed grape leaves etc.)

Thank you * Shukran * Merci

(In my country - Romania - they are called shawerma)

The kebabs you're referring to are not the same as shawerma.. or gyros. Wikipedia has some info on the shawermas... and it's origins seem to be rather vague, the reference is made there as to "Middle Eastern" foods.
As far as the kebabs are concerned, they're more like o'doerves . Terry Hunt the founder of Kabobs was working in the produce department of a local Atlanta grocery store chain when he decided he wanted to open his own business- a restaurant. Then, in 1980 - he opened his first restaurant, Sticks, in a mall South of Atlanta. Four years later he changed the name of the restaurant to Kabobs and the concept took off! He was serving skewered meat and vegetable brochettes and consumers couldn't get enough. - so those are kabobs...
Gyros / shawermas are so Greek these days, it's not even funny! :))
Now the stuffed grape leaves, is also considered Mediterranean cuisine, the Greek make them and the Italians do too. The grape leaves came as a good rescue for people whom didn't tolerate cooked cabbage very well. Although, some Mediterranean chefs claim that adding dill weed to the cabbage would cut the gas produced in some by the consumption thereof.
As far as with the Baklava, it is widely believed that the Assyrians at around 8th century B.C. were the first people who put together a few layers of thin bread dough (mille feullies or/ fillo-dough), with chopped nuts in between those layers, added some honey and baked it in their primitive wood burning ovens, or was it clay ovens???. This earliest known version of baklava was baked only on special occasions. In fact, historically baklava was considered a food for the rich until mid-19th century. In Turkey, to this day one people have their expressions such as actually often used by the poor, or even by the middle class, saying: "I am not rich enough to eat baklava and boerek every day".
Nowadays it's attributed to the Greeks, again... since they seem to have perfected the recipe, in my opinion, here in the USA they got it right. I have tasted other recipes, and they come pretty close, but when you go to a Greek /Italian restaurant and order baklava, well, you're in for a treat... pretty darn expensive too. :))
If you go with "middle East" and Mediterranean... you're pretty much fine.. :))

P.S. I grew up in Romania too.

Great answer above.

I didn't know that Shawarma was originally Turkish, but I did know about baklawa, that it was the Assyrians who first prepared it, later the Greeks re-designed the recipe, using phyllo, and other cultures have also adapted their own version of baklawa since.
I'm part Lebanese from my father's side, and have noticed that many people seemingly like to discuss, going back and forth over who makes the best kind, but personally, I prefer the Lebanese (not for cultural bias), I just love pistaccio nuts and rose-water syrup, although I've prepared it with orange-blossom as well.

Af-wan...(in response to your 'shukran').
Ma鈥檃 el Salama. :-)

SHAWARMA

The name shawarma (pronounced SHWAR-muh) comes from the Turkish word 莽evirme (IPA: [t蕛evir'me]), meaning turning, and has its origins in Anatolia. It is essentially the same dish as d枚ner kebab in Turkey (for which it is another name - turning roast), possibly differing from it in the type of meat and spices used. The composition of the salad can be quite different as well.

Baklava

It is widely believed, that the Assyrians at around 8th century B.C. were the first people who put together a few layers of thin bread dough, with chopped nuts in between those layers, added some honey and baked it in their primitive wood burning ovens. This earliest known version of baklava was baked only on special occasions. In fact, historically baklava was considered a food for the rich until mid-19th century.

Stuffed grape leaves

Some Greeks will tell you that the origin of stuffed vine leaves goes back to the time when Alexander the Great besieged Thebes. Food became so scarce that the Thebans cut what meat they had into little bits and rolled it in grape leaves.

In a lunch shop in Amman Jordan the attendant suggested a "shrawma" and then seeing my face as I tried to register what he was saying he said "sandwich" and when it came it was a typical kebab (flat bread with donor meat and salad and hommous)
There was a lot of trade between the areas of Turkey, Greece, Persia, India, the Gulf,Lebanon, Syria and surrounds so its possible that there was a lot of interaction and swapping of ideas amognst these people,many hundreds of years ago, so it would be pretty hard to establish exactly where these delights came from originally.