U.S. Army Base A Fan of Arab Food

lamb20shawarma20from20chickpea VTOb2 19672One of the consequences – and in this case good – of the Iraq war is that stationed U.S. troops have acquired a taste for Middle Eastern food. Mid-East cuisine defined as the amalgam of Arab, Armenian, Turkish, Kurd and Greek dishes.

Middle Eastern dishes tend to involve high levels of spices and sharp and distinct tastes that adsorb the mouth the way few other recipes do.

U.S. troops have developed such a following of Middle Eastern food that it has followed them back to the United States in Camp Pendleton in southern California.

The Wall Street Journal reports:

Denise Hazime, a Muslim woman, contacted food services officials here last July with what she thought might sound like a preposterous proposal: She wanted to open an Arabic food stand on the largest Marine base on the West Coast.

It turned out to be an appetizing idea. Marines returning from Iraq and the Persian Gulf were pining for pita, according to focus-group surveys conducted on the base.

Last month, Ms. Hazime and her husband, a Marine veteran, opened “Dede Med’s Shawarma House”—the first Arabic food stand on a base with a daytime population of 60,000 hungry Marines and civilians.

Shawarma is, of course, the Mid-East version of the cheeseburger which has also become incredibly popular with European youth. Visiting Western Europe last summer it found a Shawarma place everywhere I went. It is easy to make, delicious and cheap. It is incredibly that America lacks such accessible Shawarma. Maybe this U.S. troops will start a new movement. I mean, this is a country that worships the military. Surely we cannot as patriotic American not maintain high regard for their food choices.

Maybe the Hazimes should open up their chain of Shawarma Shops. Add falafel too.

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