FARK.com: (5109699) Camp Pendleton invaded by shawarma, pita, hummus, and falafel

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		Camp Pendleton invaded by shawarma, pita, hummus, and falafel (online.wsj.com)		130
		More: Spiffy

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10736 clicks; posted to Main » on 15 Mar 2010 at 5:20 AM | Favorite | share:

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brainiac-dumdum

2010-03-14 11:41:13 PM

Awesome article.

+1

IronTom

2010-03-14 11:45:45 PM

I want shawarma now

Relatively Obscure

2010-03-14 11:52:24 PM

Hasenpfeffer Incorporated!

/We're gonna do it..

chemical_angel

2010-03-14 11:57:34 PM

I had pita, hummus, and falafel for dinner so I'm really getting a kick. Also ... It isn't "Arab food".

namatad

2010-03-15 12:07:07 AM

IronTom: I want shawarma now

this
and falafel

R.A.Danny

2010-03-15 12:11:05 AM

The yummy nummy food of peace.

kxs401

2010-03-15 12:17:25 AM

Oh damn, now I'm hungry, and I don't know where to get decent middle eastern food around here.

Joelogon

2010-03-15 12:31:54 AM

Reading the article made me hungry, especially since I passed up the usual Sunday night curry. Have had plenty of gyro but no shawarma, per se, and I like Afghan-style flat bread or naan more than pita. For falafel, nothing beats Amsterdam Falafel and their toppings bar, which is worth the trek into DC.

/stubmitter

martissimo

2010-03-15 12:42:56 AM

I decided to check out her website, it looks awesome!

That said, if I were to prepare this one^ I might substitute something else for the fresh Jews!

/actually it sounds awesome too

TheXerox

2010-03-15 01:08:00 AM

I've gotten to know some Iraqis who were resettled in my area and one of the first things they did was prepare some Iraqi foods - wonderful stuff. I'd be a regular at a place that could serve up some good Iraqi food at a reasonable price.

Sgt Otter

2010-03-15 01:11:52 AM

Well, yeah. Buying shawarma or falafel from the locals was the only way to get something that wasn't an MRE, or that boil-in-a-bag crap from a Mobile Kitchen Tent, when we got booted off the main Forwarding Operating Base into a spartan Combat Outpost. Even when you do have a nice KBR dining facility at a major FOB, the menu gets pretty repetitive after a year.

Although it was a little off-putting to have a delicious lamb shawarma, then glance over to the see the lambs grazing on garbage:

Bathia_Mapes

2010-03-15 01:57:07 AM

I miss the Cedar Cafe. Now I can't have sharwarma, kale/lentil soup or the absolutely delicious baklava that was made by the owner's mother.

brainiac-dumdum

2010-03-15 05:16:35 AM

Sgt Otter: Although it was a little off-putting to have a delicious lamb shawarma, then glance over to the see the lambs grazing on garbage:

too fancy for garbage-fed sheep?

typical elitist.

cmunic8r99

2010-03-15 05:24:30 AM

damn, i loves me some shwarma.

JC Webster III

2010-03-15 05:27:25 AM

I have been invaded by Haggis

ZipSplat

2010-03-15 05:27:37 AM

Is there still a "Hot Iraqy Bread" in the stadium at al-Asad?

cheap_thoughts

2010-03-15 05:29:16 AM

Sgt Otter: Well, yeah. Buying shawarma or falafel from the locals was the only way to get something that wasn't an MRE, or that boil-in-a-bag crap from a Mobile Kitchen Tent, when we got booted off the main Forwarding Operating Base into a spartan Combat Outpost. Even when you do have a nice KBR dining facility at a major FOB, the menu gets pretty repetitive after a year.

Although it was a little off-putting to have a delicious lamb shawarma, then glance over to the see the lambs grazing on garbage:

What did you expect them to eat? No grass for miles around!

Oznog

2010-03-15 05:33:54 AM

"This is not about war. This is not about politics. This is about shawarma,"

i.ytimg.com

THIS.. IS... SHAWARMA!!!

dereksmalls

2010-03-15 05:34:39 AM

" There was a lot of lamb in my life "
moke like a lot of sheep...

Malinki

2010-03-15 05:35:07 AM

The shwarma in Riyadh was fantastic, but the kofta in Cairo was even better.

cheap_thoughts

2010-03-15 05:35:59 AM

I had a lamb kebab at a Persian restaurant in Omaha, NE that was to die for. Sadly I don't live there anymore.

/try Ahmad's

bugmn99

2010-03-15 05:36:28 AM

The shawarma hut in the sandbox in Jebel Ali had some damn tasty food. That and the occasional drunk Navy chicks baring theirs breasts were pretty much the highlight on the place.

And I'd trade 99% of the breasts for more shawarmas.

ZipSplat

2010-03-15 05:36:42 AM

cheap_thoughts: What did you expect them to eat? No grass for miles around!

They haul bales of it to farmers in ludicrously overloaded trucks. The first time I ever saw a truck loaded with water cisterns driving down MSR Tampa I was transfixed, expecting it to blow off the road. It looks like a giant balloon with a truck stuck in it.

ABQGOD

2010-03-15 05:40:10 AM

Two all-turkey patties, special sauce, lettuce, tahini? (new window)

Malinki

2010-03-15 05:44:25 AM

ZipSplat: They haul bales of it to farmers in ludicrously overloaded trucks.

First time I was there, it took me a couple days before I realized who made the Atoyot pickup trucks.

lokidecat

2010-03-15 05:55:23 AM

reading that made me hungry.

jigger

2010-03-15 05:59:02 AM

falafel

APPROVES

cheap_thoughts

2010-03-15 06:21:36 AM

ABQGOD: Two all-turkey patties, special sauce, lettuce, tahini? (new window)

I actually want that now

squiznat

2010-03-15 06:41:00 AM

yummy falafel...............

Impudent Domain

2010-03-15 06:49:45 AM

Well Now the troll, actually not a troll. I think nearly all of that mid east food sucks.

Not lebanese and Greek, I love Lebanese and Greek, but Schwarma has little flavor to me, I despise hummus, I ate a goat and rice dish once that was not too bad, but was nothing to write home about.

I like some Indian food, and there are some similarities, but I find most Arab food to be bland.

/and yes, unless you think I just didn't try it at the right place, we have several Arab/med style restaurants here and the Arab people I speak to all say they are good and authentic tasting.

ThreeEdgedSword

2010-03-15 06:57:56 AM

Impudent Domain: Well Now the troll, actually not a troll. I think nearly all of that mid east food sucks.

Not lebanese and Greek, I love Lebanese and Greek, but Schwarma has little flavor to me, I despise hummus, I ate a goat and rice dish once that was not too bad, but was nothing to write home about.

I like some Indian food, and there are some similarities, but I find most Arab food to be bland.

/and yes, unless you think I just didn't try it at the right place, we have several Arab/med style restaurants here and the Arab people I speak to all say they are good and authentic tasting.

Well, that's like your, opinion man. I don't disapprove of it.

Food always transcends politics and conflict. There's something about a meal that makes us blind to them when we sit down to enjoy it. It's a time of primal communication and meditation in our corporeal life. I love food, and that is one of the primary reasons why. Tony Bourdain has much to say on the subject.

/Unless your drunk Uncle and Family get into things during the holidays. But, that's just the evening's entertainment.

NicoFinn

2010-03-15 06:58:41 AM

Pathman

2010-03-15 07:05:20 AM

Impudent Domain

2010-03-15 07:07:05 AM

NicoFinn [TotalFark] Quote 2010-03-15 06:58:41 AM
Impudent Domain: Well Now the troll, actually not a troll. I think nearly all of that mid east food sucks.

Not lebanese and Greek, I love Lebanese and Greek, but Schwarma has little flavor to me, I despise hummus, I ate a goat and rice dish once that was not too bad, but was nothing to write home about.

I like some Indian food, and there are some similarities, but I find most Arab food to be bland.

/and yes, unless you think I just didn't try it at the right place, we have several Arab/med style restaurants here and the Arab people I speak to all say they are good and authentic tasting.

You're just tainted because you are Cajun. You've probably put Tony's on your eggs this morning. :P

Well there is something to that. I go to Mexican restaurants and they never make it hot enough. It is funny to watch the expression on their faces when this crazy Anglo pours Habenero sauce on his already spicy mexican food.

DjangoStonereaver

2010-03-15 07:28:45 AM

Anybody who went to Rutgers in the 80s was already up on the joy of schwarma,
thanks to the Sunrise grease truck.

If anything will save our species, it is the shared love of good food, regardless
of national origin.

Larger Than Marge

2010-03-15 07:43:22 AM

I would just like to take this opportunity to echo what many others have posted to this thread: thanks a lot, Subby, now I'm all hungry. Where am I gonna find shawarma at eight in the morning?

greentea1985

2010-03-15 07:45:08 AM

This is kind of cool. It's similar to how pizza became big in the US. Pizza was just an immigrant food restricted to the big cities until all the GIs came back from Italy with a taste for it and businessmen realized it was cheap to set up a pizza shop. This is a smart business food. The soldiers coming back from the Middle East get a taste of the food they have come to love, while people who have never seen it before can become familiar with it so they don't piss off the locals when they are in the Middle East.

Hiro Nakamura

2010-03-15 07:47:13 AM

ZipSplat: Is there still a "Hot Iraqy Bread" in the stadium at al-Asad?

When were you there? I was there for two months in '06.

bugmn99: The shawarma hut in the sandbox in Jebel Ali had some damn tasty food. That and the occasional drunk Navy chicks baring theirs breasts were pretty much the highlight on the place.

And I'd trade 99% of the breasts for more shawarmas.

We had a 5 day port call in Jebel Ali and we weren't allowed to leave the sandbox due to a national week of mourning. That place ran out of food within a few hours.

Hagbardr

2010-03-15 07:59:42 AM

I'm just gonna leave this here for any Philly area Farkers. (new window)

Huttah!

2010-03-15 08:01:41 AM

Now I want Maoz.

SouthernKarebear

2010-03-15 08:19:29 AM

NicoFinn: Impudent Domain: Well Now the troll, actually not a troll. I think nearly all of that mid east food sucks.

Not lebanese and Greek, I love Lebanese and Greek, but Schwarma has little flavor to me, I despise hummus, I ate a goat and rice dish once that was not too bad, but was nothing to write home about.

I like some Indian food, and there are some similarities, but I find most Arab food to be bland.

/and yes, unless you think I just didn't try it at the right place, we have several Arab/med style restaurants here and the Arab people I speak to all say they are good and authentic tasting.

You're just tainted because you are Cajun. You've probably put Tony's on your eggs this morning. :P

I did just that. lol
Spice really depends on the person. My Bro in law has to have it so HOT, that I can't taste the food. Each to their own. If you want HOT Indian food, there is a place in Reading England that I can recommend.

I love good Indian and Arab/Med food. I am going to visit family in Houston and Lafayette in a month. Anyone have any good suggestions?

Impudent Domain: Ever try Indonesian food? That can get HOT.

Harry Freakstorm

2010-03-15 08:20:26 AM

He joined the Marines in 1996, and retired in 2000 as a lance corporal.

I thought you had to do 20 to retire. All my other fellow soldiers in the core who flew F-16s off the deck of the Nimitz had to do twenty years or 25 combat missions over Macho Grande.

Hiro Nakamura

2010-03-15 08:26:39 AM

Harry Freakstorm: He joined the Marines in 1996, and retired in 2000 as a lance corporal.

I thought you had to do 20 to retire. All my other fellow soldiers in the core who flew F-16s off the deck of the Nimitz had to do twenty years or 25 combat missions over Macho Grande.

You can be medically retired with just about any length of service. It's a legal distinction to allow more VA benefits to people who have gotten hurt in the course of their service. But more likely the writer just thinks "honorable discharge=retiree." It's a common mistake.

Sixxtwo

2010-03-15 08:33:36 AM

Harry Freakstorm: All my other fellow soldiers in the core who flew F-16s off the deck of the Nimitz had to do twenty years or 25 combat missions over Macho Grande.

Ummmm.... F-16's are Air Force, nor can they take off from the deck of a carrier. I would guess F-18?

Pants full of macaroni!!

2010-03-15 08:36:17 AM

homer-simpson-drooling.jpg

/love me some falafels
//took me a few tries to develop a taste for hummus

Sixxtwo

2010-03-15 08:38:19 AM

Pants full of macaroni!!: homer-simpson-drooling.jpg

/love me some falafels
//took me a few tries to develop a taste for hummus

Protip: Siracha + Hummus = Most awesome dip ever!

roscotsmalls

2010-03-15 08:46:33 AM

A few years ago someone bought me a vegetarian cook book (I am not a vegetarian) and it had a recipe for hummus that I more or less use today, with some slight modification....

You more or less make your normal hummus but add a little bit of lemon juice, a bit of curry, liberal amounts of garlic and olive oil, and a dash of cumin......I get a lot of compliments every time I bust it out....

We have shwarma stands here in Kyiv, but it has all been turned into Russified mayonaise soaked dreck ( Ihad a shwarma so bad in Moscow once that when I threw it on the ground by a street/feral dog, he sniffed it and then ignored it...so yeah I'm mad at subby too....

roscotsmalls

2010-03-15 08:47:56 AM

Sixxtwo: Pants full of macaroni!!: homer-simpson-drooling.jpg

/love me some falafels
//took me a few tries to develop a taste for hummus

Protip: Siracha + Hummus = Most awesome dip ever!

Holy crap....I must try this evil-geniusy idea!

EighthundredmillionthFarker

2010-03-15 08:48:02 AM

Awesome food, good for them! Makes me miss Aladdin's Eatery back in Ohio... best menu ever.

Pants full of macaroni!!

2010-03-15 08:51:21 AM