Shawarma is one of Israel’s most popular street foods, and a new confection, Chocolate Shawarma or Choco-Kebab, is taking that obsession—and Israelis’ newfound love of chocolate—to the next level. The concept is simple: The giant rotating meat stack is replaced by an Italian chocolate stack with layers of milk and white chocolate, which instead of being heated are refrigerated. The chocolate is shaved off into a pita-crepe, a slightly thicker version of the French crepe that replaces the original pita or lafah in which the meat shawarma would be served. Instead of hummus or tahini you can top the crepe with dulce de leche, maple syrup, halva, baby marshmallows, Adashim (essentially the Israeli version of M&M’s), whipped cream, chocolate sauce, nuts, granola, and chocolate sprinkles.

Surprisingly, the Chocolate Shawarma isn’t an Israeli concept. Oded Cohen, an ex-clerk who had never worked in the food industry, saw this rotating chocolate wonder on a family trip to Sicily and fell in love. He photographed the machine and decided that he wanted to import Choco-Kebab to Israel before even tasting it. Soon he traveled to Italy again—this time on a business mission—and paved the way to filling the land of shawarma with its chocolate doppelganger.

“The Choco-Kebab is an Italian concept and it is catching on in many different countries,” Cohen told me. “It’s very popular in Turkey and Lebanon and we’re going to make it a hit in Israel.”

For the full article click here